My cousin has a mental disability..It's Autism..And when I was about five and he was about 12..He'd run his hands up my shirt and push me on the bed and get on top of me..Was he wrong to do that? I mean, cause he has a mental disability..He can't really take care of himself..Idk
It doesnt matter if they have a mental disability or not, It is never ok, or right. He shouldnt have done that, and to a point they know its wrong, even if its only because they know they will get in trouble.
He surly knows better, and if not talk to his parents or caregivers, they need to know that he did this, he may still do it to younger family members or friends of the family. It's possible that because of the autism they never felt the need to talk to him about such behaviors.
One of the characteristics of autism is a lack of empathy, which means that he has no idea how his own behaviour makes other people feel. He literally cannot imagine how you feel. However, his behaviour was not acceptable, and by 12 years old I would have expected someone to have taught him that. Having worked with people with autism, I personally feel that the blame here lies with his caregivers, because he should have been taught about appropriate sexual behaviour. I feel that if someone doesn't have the necessary knowledge to behave appropriately then it's up to their carers (whoever they are, parents or support workers or whoever) to monitor them and help them learn how to behave. Mim
