To wonder how I approach my neighbour about her nude son

Have you ever been flashed in public by a naked man? it's a disturbing and distressing experience for anyone, never mind a young teen girl. Your dismissal of her shock and upset is ridiculous.

@x2boys
In such severe cases of autism as you describe, if that person committed a serious crime and was a risk to others, he would be committed to a secure unit for people with intellectual disabilities.

Do you think if a severely autistic man raped someone, or murdered someone, that he should remain free to potentially commit a similar crime again? It seems that is what you are saying.

Whether charges are pressed or not, is not really relevant. This behavior needs to be stopped, and if that means by official channels via police, social services, then so be it. This should not be taken lightly. A 16 year old exposing his bits in public is not acceptable, no matter what his mental capacity is. Also, there is nothing wrong in saying that the parent/carer may need help. It's not a reflection on their parenting. If they can't take care of their child properly without external support, then they'll have to seek external support. End of. I'm quite astonished that some posters are telling the OP that this is the time to teach her daughter a lesson in compassion! F* that. Police or failing that social services. Your daughters health and wellbeing comes first, middle and last. Don't be guilt tripped into thinking otherwise OP.

The young person in question has committed indecent exposure. That's a crime, a real, fully fledged crime. A woman was jailed for pushing over a cyclist recently, and I'm pretty sure she didn't have the capacity to understand what she did either. Capacity is a factor, but it isn't the only issue that a court would consider - public protection is also a factor.

My creds were mentioned up thread but to re-iterate - I am the mother of a 17 yo young man with autism. And like fuck would I expect any of my young neighbours to be kind if my son had committed indecent exposure.

Yes, he has OP'S Daughter. Indecent exposure is classified as sexual assault. I understand this is probably a bit too close to home for you, but that doesn't change the fact the boy should be reported to the Police and Social services for them to investigate and determine the correct course of action going forward.

Indecent exposure/ flashing is a form of sexual assault though.

And the teen in question hasebt,sexually assaulted anyone and there is no evidence i,based on what the Op,has written he will.

Perhaps educate yourself about the vastness of the spectrum ??
someone can have autism and have full.capacity other people can have autism and have capacity in some areas but not others and then there are the people that are so impacted by their autism that they do NOT have the capacity to understand their actions ,you keep.saying he exposed himself ,their is a huge difference between a person who deliberately expose,s themselves and knows what they are doing autism or no autism or somebody who like the teen in this scenario is naked outside for what ever reason ,my own son given half a chance would go outside naked because he has no understanding of why that's wrong
how do you imagine the authorities would be able to prosecute someone who can't speak ,can only communicate in a very basic way and has no understanding of what they have done let alone place them in the sex offender register ,this is why it's a safe guarding issue,to protect everyone.

@x2boys
People with autism aren't above the law - their condition doesn't give them a free pass to indecently expose themselves to others, or to sexually assault others.
You say it's a safeguarding issue, and yes it is. While an offender may not be held fully accountable on account of an intellectual disability, he could be put on the sex offenders' register, or committed to a facility for offenders with disabilities. And rightly so - to safeguard any more girls and women from being sexually assaulted by him.

A straight up question for anyone saying to leave it...

If a naked man ran at you in the street. Would you ring the police? Or would you stop to wonder if they had ASD?

It is highly likely you would ring the police. You would not question doing anything else. The only reason anyone is saying different is because the OP knows he is on the spectrum but if it happens again, the next person might not, and they will ring the police. OPs DD also shouldn't have to deal with it.

How the police handled the issue is up to them. As it is a safeguarding issue they will likely alert CSC and discuss with the mother as he has exposed himself to a minor, and indecent exposure is against the law. If he already has a SW then they will pick it up.

If they were.able to prosecute than the perpetrator must have had capacity to understand what they did was wrong and by the sounds of their actions they clearly did,the autism spectrum is huge however and many people won't understand it's wrong to be naked outside .

Where ever you live if the person doesn't have capacity to understand their actions ,what do.you imagine might happen ,remember we are talking about a severely disabled teen who is non verbsl.and has limited understanding,by all.accounts ?
This is a safe guarding issue in not condoning what's happened but most civilised countries wouldn't prosecute a severely disabled person .I would like to.think.

My reply was for @x2boys

I don't live in the UK, and yes, where we live I would be able to press charges against a male who indecently exposed himself to my 13 year old daughter.

I've name changed for this but want to put across another experience (multiple on this thread) of sexual assault caused by a severely autistic teen.

I was 9 years old, I was sexually assaulted by a then 17 year old autistic teenager. He had quite severe learning disabilities but was verbal. I was lead down an alleyway to get some water balloons and he took his pants down, revealed his penis and took my hand to stroke his penis. He also tried to put his penis in my mouth.

I remember it like it was yesterday, and the police were involved.

This was nearly 20 years ago and at the time he was put on the sex offenders list. His parents sold up and they moved away. His parents were in total denial, and minimised his behaviour because of his autism. Maybe if they didn't minimise his behaviour (they did it in front of him) maybe, he wouldn't have sexually assaulted a 9 year old girl.

Being autistic doesn't equate to not having sexual intentions.

If he doesn't have capacity to understand his actions he still.won't be charged ,it's a safe guarding issue,not a criminal one .

Please report to the police asap. What happens next time when it's a younger child who can't outrun him or doesn't live next door and able to get to safety.

I'm shocked by the number of people minimising this and saying he can't have sexual urges.

What he has done is indecent exposure.

The lad was naked and heading towards the OPs daughter.

Sorry I apologise ,I did .

@x2boys and it wasn't to me, it was in the small town where I grew up though.

@x2boys sorry I think you've maybe mixed my post up with a different one as I didn't really have that level of detail about the man's condition but it wasn't autism that I'm aware of anyway, it was what used to be called mental r-word is all I know.

Well in assuming it's the UK given its a UK site 🙄

You also said he was fairly high functioning now I'm not condoning his actions or minimising what happened to you but learning disabilities ,can be mild ,moderate ,severe or profound ,my son has severe autism and severe learning disabilities,he has a very limited understanding of the world around them and really doesn't have the capacity to understand his actions or how they impact others ,he likes to be naked too ,I don't let him outside but he would go.outside given half the chance and he wouldn't understand why being naked was inappropriate ,his understanding is very different to someone who has mild learning disabilities,who does understand what they are doing and how their actions impact others.

Not quite. It depends on what country the poster is in, for one. Also, there’s always the possibility of bringing a private or civil prosecution. While the boy himself may not be held liable, those with authority over him that failed to prevent him from acting could be.

It’s fucking wild what some posters think women and girls should have to put up with in the name of ‘compassion’, ‘being kind’, and saving the mother stress.

If these posters have daughters, then hopefully said daughters never have to find themselves in the position of finding out their safety and well-being is of the least importance to their parents.