Gordon Page Jr. - possible update

[undertakeress]

Originally Posted by JannTosh

Thanks to Amazon I got to see this segment for the first time. So sad. Got tgesry at the parts where his dad was leaving him
And at the video at the very end


Also, Gordon Page was played by actor Doug Jones. He has a long list of credits to his name including several Guillermo Del Toro movies

Doug Jones is going to be in the new Star Trek series. He did a great job as Gordon. However I'll always remember him as a gentleman

[tsaun]

Originally Posted by sdb4884

Any of you who has seen the Amazon segment would have seen a new composite of Gordon who would be aged now in his 50's.

Interesting that they didn't mention anything in the update about the baseball cards that were reportedly found under a bridge near where he disappeared from.

I never knew about the baseball cards.

That kinda leads me to believe he was murdered

[LooksLikeCRicci]

I remember freaking out when I found out that the actor had portrayed a Gentleman... one of the best episodes of that particular series, if you ask me.

[isotope]

I saw this segment for the first time last night; other posters had talked about sad it was, but I was unprepared for how utterly heartbreaking it would turn out to be. Poor Gordon (trying - and failing - to hold down a job. Being misdiagnosed and pumped full of psychotropic drugs. Being sent to a group home which obviously distressed him enormously). His poor family.. What an unspeakable tragedy. I don't think there is any realistic prospect Gordon is alive, sadly.

On a (slightly) brighter note - kudos to the child actor who portrayed him. During a time when much less was known about autism, he nailed the mannerisms and vocal intonations often observed in autistic children with almost uncanny precision, without his performance ever coming off as exaggeration or parody.

[JamesG]

On a side note, I met Doug Jones at a convention in NYC back in 2010. One of the nicest dudes I've met; very personable. He gave everyone who came up to him a hug.

I talked w/ him about Hocus Pocus, Batman Returns, and the Hellboy movies.

[DazzlerSparkler]

Autism isn't a disease. I hope people realize that having autism doesn't mean you aren't "normal". You can be perfectly okay living with autism and be functioning. Celebrities have it, like Daryl Hannah.

[Bluejay]

I believe it will take time, but people will get it. The more autistics speak up (or type up), the more publicity it gets and the sooner Autism Speaks will be exposed for the money-making scam it always was and there will be no more tragedies like what happened with Gordon.

Originally Posted by DazzlerSparkler

Autism isn't a disease. I hope people realize that having autism doesn't mean you aren't "normal". You can be perfectly okay living with autism and be functioning. Celebrities have it, like Daryl Hannah.

[SPD Yellow]

Originally Posted by DazzlerSparkler

Autism isn't a disease. I hope people realize that having autism doesn't mean you aren't "normal". You can be perfectly okay living with autism and be functioning. Celebrities have it, like Daryl Hannah.

This. So very this. Speaking as someone on the spectrum, I suffer more from a society that alternates between demonizing people like me or patronizing people like me and won't bother to make any accommodations whatsoever.

Steve Silberman wrote a fantastic book about the history of the Autism diagnosis and how it was treated called NeuroTribes. If I had it my way, if I was some Grand High Dictator of the World, I would force everyone to read it, but alas I am not.

Still, this one quote by him totally sums up my beliefs.

By focusing exclusively on long-range research into alleged “risk factors” for autism, while ignoring the need to dramatically improve the quality of life for autistic people and their families today, we fool ourselves into thinking that autism is a “puzzle” that will be solved by the next medical breakthrough. Instead, what autism really is, an enormous population of men and women with tremendous potential who are being denied what everyone deserves: the chance to live a happy, healthy, safe, secure and productive life. Viewed in this light, autistic people are one of the largest disenfranchised minorities in the world.
Imagine if society had put off the issue of civil rights until the genetics of race were sorted out, or denied wheelchair users access to schools and public buildings while insisting, “Someday, with the help of science, everyone will walk.” Viewed as a form of disability that is relatively common rather than as a baffling medical enigma, autism is not so “puzzling” after all. Designing appropriate forms of support and accommodations is not beyond our capabilities as a society, as the history of the disability rights movement proves.

That's about the half of it. Maybe there are some people who would genuinely benefit from a cure, but it likely won't come for decades. So in the mean time, why don't we take care of the Autistic people we have now, by funding the very real, scientifically-backed therapies that provide great aid and help to those who need them.

[Todd Mueller]

Originally Posted by SPD Yellow

This. So very this. Speaking as someone on the spectrum, I suffer more from a society that alternates between demonizing people like me or patronizing people like me and won't bother to make any accommodations whatsoever.

Steve Silberman wrote a fantastic book about the history of the Autism diagnosis and how it was treated called NeuroTribes. If I had it my way, if I was some Grand High Dictator of the World, I would force everyone to read it, but alas I am not.

Still, this one quote by him totally sums up my beliefs.

That's about the half of it. Maybe there are some people who would genuinely benefit from a cure, but it likely won't come for decades. So in the mean time, why don't we take care of the Autistic people we have now, by funding the very real, scientifically-backed therapies that provide great aid and help to those who need them.

Very well said. I'm just glad people are finally understanding autism. Hopefully we can shed the stigma and focusing on, as you said, helping the people with Autism today live a rich and successful life.

If only they had that kind of understanding years ago for people like Gordon Page, Jr.

[SPD Yellow]

Though I cannot pick on Gordon's parents like at all. You can see the raw pain written all over their faces. They regretted leaving him every day of their lives

[Rleigh]

Ok I can do without the scary pics!

Lots of sad stories out there but this one was especially heartbreaking to me.

Yes the parents love & miss him. And yes, not much was known about his condition back then.

But two things:

The story was presented like they never tried to find out what was wrong with him until adulthood. First mom says they thought he was normal then she says they knew something was wrong from the beginning.

In the vid, he was working at the grocery store and his dad couldn't get him to remember his full name. If it's that bad, how can you not seek help the whole time he's growing up?

Second, leaving him. It wasn't because they were afraid to change his surroundings. He was in a different home when they moved. They then moved him to the home he left from.

And when that home suggested 2 months separation, why was this presented as if they'd never been separated before?

They lived in FL. Even if they came up once a week, which I doubt, that's a significant amount of time to be separated.

Not judging. Just curious. I know UM leaves a lot out. And with any situation, in real life or tv, there's always pieces we don't know.

Right or wrong, what's done is done.

But those things just really stood out to me.

[Todd Mueller]

Originally Posted by Rleigh

Ok I can do without the scary pics!

Lots of sad stories out there but this one was especially heartbreaking to me.

Yes the parents love & miss him. And yes, not much was known about his condition back then.

But two things:

The story was presented like they never tried to find out what was wrong with him until adulthood. First mom says they thought he was normal then she says they knew something was wrong from the beginning.

My guess is that it was a combo of information on Autism not being as well known back then, and parents who were probably in denial to a certain degree. I don't doubt for a second that his parents loved him and wanted the best for him. But I think they still had trouble really accepting what was happening. Sometimes people want something to be ok so bad that they ignore what is staring them in the face. Perhaps they thought they could just medicate Gordy into being "normal." So what resulted was Gordy most likely being over-mediated and not truly diagnosed.

I just have to wonder if they knew then what they know now, would Gordy have ever gone missing? Probably not.

[dynoguy88]

Originally Posted by Rleigh

Second, leaving him. It wasn't because they were afraid to change his surroundings. He was in a different home when they moved. They then moved him to the home he left from.

And when that home suggested 2 months separation, why was this presented as if they'd never been separated before?

They lived in FL. Even if they came up once a week, which I doubt, that's a significant amount of time to be separated.

Yes, their original plan always confused me as well with Gordan Jr. staying in Michigan. Did they just fly the 1,300 miles back every week to visit him? Were there no group homes or facilities that were closer to Tampa where they now lived?

We're lacking some information here. I'm guessing they must have been able to come back to visit him often because the Pages had already lived in Florida for two years when Gordan Jr. disappeared. It was only after he was transferred to the new home in Grand Rapids (with the two month rule) that the conflict arose.

I believe he wasn't heavily medicated anymore by then as well. Maybe the change of environment was also a factor in him wanting to run away?

[rarjake]

sad that the first thing they tell him, to get into this group home, is oh you have to go to the hospital to see if he has to be "Stabilized". First thing they do is drug him up, to shut him up. Put him on Ritalin and Valium?

[tsaun]

Ha. It's rarski!