Parents of artist with autism shocked by hateful letter

CALGARY- The story of an Oshawa mother who received a hateful letter directed at her autistic son has struck a chord with parents across the country—including a Calgary couple whose own autistic son has become quite accomplished.

27-year-old Shawn Belanger has limited communication skills, but he makes up for it by expressing himself through his incredible drawings. His talent began to emerge at age five, when he learned how to hold a pencil.

“He took a picture of Goofy and created characters, and changed their faces,” remembers his mother, Nancy Belanger.

His style has been refined in the years since, and his ‘contemporary impressionism’ works have been commissioned and displayed at art shows.

“I think one of the biggest things we’ve learned from Shawn is don’t prejudge people based on their looks, their appearance, their abilities,” says his father, Greg Belanger. “They’re people, and they are in themselves who they are.”

His parents say a lot of painful memories came rushing back, when they heard about the incident in Ontario.

“It’s such a distasteful thing, it’s hard to believe it actually happened,” says Nancy. “We dealt with that when Shawn was young. We’ve also had the stares, the snide comments.”

Greg remembers one such incident, when they were in a fast food restaurant.

“There was an older gentlemen sitting right behind us, and his comment to us was, ‘All that kid needs is a good slap across the back of the head’

“My thought was, ‘If you only knew. If we could slap him across the back of the head and cure his autism, wouldn’t that be wonderful.’”

The couple hopes something good comes out of the Oshawa case, and that their son’s abilities prove to be an example.

“Maybe if you see a child who looks normal but is behaving in a way that’s different than you might expect.. to maybe not just automatically assume it’s bad parenting.. or the child is just being bad,” adds Nancy.

Click here to learn more about Shawn and his drawings.