W E E K E N D E D I T I O N | M AY 4 -7, 2 0 17 | T W I C E W E E K LY I N P R I N T | O U D A I LY. C O M
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SEEKING ACCEPTANCE Students with autism search for supportive group
MITCHELL WILLETTS • @MITCHBWILLETTS
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ust outside the Oklahoma Memorial Union food c o u r t , i t ’s a b r e e z y , sun-dappled sort of day. High school students, on campus for a debate competition, flit around, laughing and hollering, acting their ages. Waves of cheers ride over from the Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium and the annual spring game. It ’s all ver y busy, and for Anthony Garringer, it’s all too much. Sensory processing disorder is common in people with autism — certain sensations are intolerable, and too much input can be flustering or frustrating. The smorgasbord of external stimuli campus offers might have caused a younger Garringer to “melt down” or “freak out,” he said. But today, at 28, he simply asks to move somewhere else. Garringer, who came to OU in fall 2014 to earn his master’s in Human Relations, was nonverbal until he was 5 years old, meaning he couldn’t or wouldn’t string together more than a few words at a time. Add to that the aforementioned sensory integration issues, and a doctor quickly diagnosed Garringer with autism spectrum disorder. “ I t h i n k t h e re’s a l a c k o f
understanding that people with autism grow up to be adults,” Garringer said. “The same behaviors we had as kids, we don’t necessarily have at 16 or 21. Most of us evolve.” With this lack of understanding, Garringer said at OU he feels there is a lack of social support. The Disability Resource Center has provided him with some accommodations, like extra time for test-taking and dormitory modifications — creature comforts, he said, and bare, practical necessities. Material support is something, but the social, mental and emotional components of ASD are overlooked, Garringer said. He looks to treat these needs on his own, but doesn’t know where to turn on campus to do so. He’s considered going to Goddard Health Center to see someone,
DEFINING AUTISM Autism spectrum disorder is a developmental disability that affects a person’s ability to communicate and interact with others. It’s a “spectrum condition,” meaning it affects individuals in different ways and degrees. Source: autism-society.org
MITCHELL WILLETTS/THE DAILY
Anthony Garringer sits on a bench on the OU campus April 8. Garringer was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder as a child.
he said — therapists are not exactly friends, or experts on ASD, but they’re at the very least a sympathetic ear. But an hour of anyone’s time costs something, and because Goddard doesn’t take insurance, it’s an hour he can’t afford, Garringer said. He’s come a long way in finding avenues to handle these stresses, he said, but often worries how others perceive him. “There’s a lot of keeping up appearances here. People are very appearance-conscious,” Garringer said. “You have to know all the right words, the right way to say them, to be accepted,
and if you have trouble with social mores and norms ... you can never let your guard down.” What’s more disturbing to Garringer is that even around faculty and staff, he feels his performance must continue. He said he isn’t alone in this feeling. “Many people with moderate autism at OU are afraid to come out. They feel if they do, that maybe they won’t get that graduate assistantship, or that teacher assistantship. Maybe they won’t get to be the research assistant,” Garringer said. “There’s an impetus to fake it here.” A club or an organization for
students on the spectrum is just what OU needs, Garringer said. During his search for support, he discovered Autism Speaks U, the only university-affiliated organization for students with ASD. The problem is that Autism Speaks U is not really an organization for people with autism, Garringer said — it doesn’t speak for them and certainly not for him. A national organization, Autism Speaks faced criticism in the past for being “cure-focused” — for allocating significant portions of its funding into biomedical research, more concerned with finding the causes of autism than with helping those who have it. Autism Speaks has since updated its mission statement, emphasizing advocacy and support as the nonprofit’s main functions. Despite the public change of heart, Garringer said he still distrusts Autism Speaks, as well as affiliated organizations. “I don’t think I’m sick, most of my friends don’t think they’re sick, and we don’t need a cure,” Garringer said. “The university chapter says they’re not cure-focused. However, they still chose to align themselves with an organization that still largely views autism, through their rhetoric, as a disease or an illness.” When the OU chapter of Autism see AUTISM page 2
Four charged with murder of OU student Two men, two minors to be held without bail STAFF REPORTS
CODY TURBEVILLE
ARMANI MORGAN
JAMES SMITH
TYREK TURNER
The Cleveland County District Attorney’s Office filed first degree murder charges against four males arrested last week in connection with the April 24 shooting of OU sophomore Nathaniel Ewing. Armani Morgan, 19; Tyrek Turner, 20; Cody Turbeville, 17; and James Smith, 17, were each charged Tuesday with one count of murder in the first degree, according to court documents. Turbeville and Smith, though
minors, will be tried as adults. The four were arrested April 26 in connection with the shooting of Ewing, a 20-year-old OU sophomore, in the parking lot of Willowbrook Apartments. The shooting occurred before 11 p.m. April 23, after which police found Ewing in the parking lot with a gunshot wound to his abdomen. Ewing died April 24 at OU Medical Hospital in Oklahoma City after surgeries. According to the charges, the four men implicated were in the process of “robbery with a firearm” when Ewing was shot and killed. Upon arrival at the scene, Turner and Smith demanded
money from Ewing and an unnamed friend, according to the charges filed. Turner then placed Ewing in a headlock, and Smith discharged the firearm, killing Ewing, according to the charges. Turbeville served as the driver to and from the scene of the crime and had knowledge that his passengers had a firearm, according to the charges. Morgan was not present at the scene, but he had prior knowledge that a robbery was to occur and provided the weapon later used in the murder. Per the request of the state of Oklahoma, Judge Steve Stice determined at an arraignment Tuesday that the four males would be held without bail.
The four will appear for a Brill Hearing, which is used to determine further bail charges or proceedings, by Thursday. As none of the charged men currently have a lawyer, Stice recommended they apply for court-appointed counsel. Regardless of the time or date of the Brill Hearing, all four men were also assigned a court date for 1 p.m. May 16, at which time their lawyers will meet with the district attorney for a preliminary hearing conference. The men charged are not required to be present at these proceedings, Stice said. Staff Reports
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