Robison’s fears were well founded. In February 2008, authorities staged a multi-day raid on Cubby’s lab. Afterward, they condemned the house and sent Mary a bill for $10,000 to cover disposal costs. The stressful trial that ensued was led by a vindictive DA who wanted nothing less than to see 19-year-old Cubby—whose Asperger’s made it hard for him to understand why no one seemed to appreciate the diligence of his science—locked up behind bars.
As parents, we all have our blind spots. Robison’s funny, loving, and decidedly geeky account—one of a growing number by parents with autism—shows not only that someone with autism can make a great parent, but that there are many ways of becoming one.
Post 9-11 'counter terrorism' witchhunts 'Asbergers syndrome"....
RAISING CUBBY: A Father and Son’s Adventures with Asperger’s, Trains, Tractors and High Explosives by John Elder Robison | Emily Donaldson
John Elder Robison describes what it’s like for an Aspergian father to rear a similar son in Raising Cubby: A Father and Son’s Adventures with Asperger’s, Trains, Tractors, and High Explosives, an explosive new memoir. That’s not to suggest their relationship is especially fraught—quite the contrary. It does, however, involve dynamite.
Asperger’s syndrome may cause repetitive behaviors and obsessive interests, and John’s son Jack Robison, aka Cubby, got the chemistry bug early on. He built his first lab in his father’s basement and was detonating high explosives in the woods behind the house at 17. Experimentation almost led to incarceration: after being reported by an online equipment vendor and a subsequent investigation, Cubby was charged in Massachusetts Superior Court with three counts of malicious explosion, felonies carrying a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
Moral of the story: Beware of CRAZY - District attorneys...
When they finally came calling, in the winter of 2008, the ATF agent in charge of the scene turned to me and said, “Mister Robison, I can see that your son is not a criminal. Somewhere in the US, every year, the ATF finds a Boy Scout genius with a chemistry set. This is your year.”
My son “Cubby”
Except now- we lock them up....
As parents, we all have our blind spots. Robison’s funny, loving, and decidedly geeky account—one of a growing number by parents with autism—shows not only that someone with autism can make a great parent, but that there are many ways of becoming one.
Post 9-11 'counter terrorism' witchhunts 'Asbergers syndrome"....
RAISING CUBBY: A Father and Son’s Adventures with Asperger’s, Trains, Tractors and High Explosives by John Elder Robison | Emily Donaldson
John Elder Robison describes what it’s like for an Aspergian father to rear a similar son in Raising Cubby: A Father and Son’s Adventures with Asperger’s, Trains, Tractors, and High Explosives, an explosive new memoir. That’s not to suggest their relationship is especially fraught—quite the contrary. It does, however, involve dynamite.
Asperger’s syndrome may cause repetitive behaviors and obsessive interests, and John’s son Jack Robison, aka Cubby, got the chemistry bug early on. He built his first lab in his father’s basement and was detonating high explosives in the woods behind the house at 17. Experimentation almost led to incarceration: after being reported by an online equipment vendor and a subsequent investigation, Cubby was charged in Massachusetts Superior Court with three counts of malicious explosion, felonies carrying a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
Moral of the story: Beware of CRAZY - District attorneys...
When they finally came calling, in the winter of 2008, the ATF agent in charge of the scene turned to me and said, “Mister Robison, I can see that your son is not a criminal. Somewhere in the US, every year, the ATF finds a Boy Scout genius with a chemistry set. This is your year.”
My son “Cubby”
Except now- we lock them up....
