“He’s not a dog.”
A woman has expressed her anger at a neighbour urging her to keep her autistic son indoors because he makes “disturbing” noises.
Single mum Magenta Quinn was sent a letter through her front door from someone living nearby.
In the letter, seen by the Sun, the anonymous neighbour explained in that they had already sent the police around to Magenta’s home in Brisbane, Australia to investigate noises they had heard.
“When you moved in we heard these strange moaning and shouting coming from your garden every day and night.
“We contacted the police who… have visited your premises,” the note reads.
“They informed us of your situation that a person in your family is suffering from a mental illness and that was the source of the noise.”
Magenta’s son has autism and is almost non-verbal.
The neighbour threatened to involve the local council if Magenta didn’t keep her son inside from the garden.
“I would kindly request that you consider your neighbours and try to limit the amount of time that is spent in the garden such that we do not have to listen to the disturbing noise daily and sometimes before 6am.
“If this continues at the regular intervals it has been, I intend to make formal complaints against your address to council to help resolve this issue.”
Magenta took to Facebook in anger after receiving the letter.
“Talking with council won’t help, he’s not a dog, it’s a person. If you’d like to take him on a holiday so I can get some rest that would be awesome,” she wrote.
She explained that her son struggles to express himself and that his noises are his way of self-soothing.
“The noise they’re referring to is that he hums and occasionally yelps. It’s a calming mechanism, and without it, he would get very frustrated and aggressive so I’d prefer the humming.
She said she’d prefer to resolve the situation in person.
“It’s not okay to control and bully other people. I’d ask them to come and have a chat with me and maybe we can explain things and work it out.”
