(Updated)
Jason is a special education student in Greece, New York, enthusiastic supporter of his high school basketball team for years. After years of watching the game he finally was allowed to suit up, and even play in the final four minutes. What a surprise! He scored 20 points, and is now all over the Internet, CBS, MSNBC, ESPN … you name it. This is one video worth watching. (Thanks, Ben!)
Update (2/28). The embedded player I originally had here no longer works, youtube removed the video on CBS’s demand. Here’s the link to the original CBS Evening News video.
Update: (2/27): Another video here, and a post to put things in prospective: “Probably 90% of the those who view this video do not fully understand what this truly means for this boy and his family. For children with issues as big as autism, every day, every hour, every minute is a challenge … we celebrate a “good” day, one without a meltdown, bizarre behavior in the grocery store, defiance, mania, rage.” please read the post.
Update (5/5/07): The video is back on Youtube again.
Tags: Autistic, Autism, Basketball, Sport
It is sad they are using this “autistic” boy as a ploy for publicity. I have seen a few interviews on this story, and there are many strange things noted. # 1 his brother lied and said he was at his game, and then later said he wasn’t. #2 His mother stated “this is the first time he has suceeded” unquote. (Success in this family must be tough if he needs to make six 3 pointers in 5 minutes.) #3) Why wasn’t this kid playing on the team the whole year!! The coach is an idiot/ass for not playing him in previous games. Maybe he overlooked a talent and only saw his disability. It seems his family did the same thing. This is a good story gone bad in my opinion.
Jami,
I don’t know about #1.
#2: I don’t think his Mom meant 1st success as such.. success has many definitions, see the linked story of another mother under “put things in prospective” above. I think she meant that he had many little successes in that other, everyday definition, but the first real outstanding achievement came this day.
#3: I agree, it’s amazing that his talent was not discovered at all prior to this.
All in all, I don’t see this as a bad story, I found it moving, the kid is certainly not exploited, and his newfound celebrity may just turn his life a bit better.