꒰ psychotic angel ꒱

Another old art post; Circa 2024 me thinks.

Aphraa [They], Zero [He/It]

Honestly not very proud of this anymore, really need to redraw it.

Blade [he/they]

「ミミミ」 by 玛雅G | Twitter

Parker Wells was an autistic kid. It doesn't seem like the family have provided any public memorials with personal information. There's pictures of him scattered through the articles -- a kid with big ear defenders posing wearing a hoodie with a rainbow hand making a peace sign, or in a shirt with a hockey player on it. A kid standing in front of a stairwell grinning. In two of the photos, he's wearing several hats stacked on top of each other, which is the closest I get to seeing something unique to him. He was visibly autistic, with the photos showing him holding his arms in a way that would be easily readable as disabled to others. He had some sort of facial difference. He attended Camp Bonaventure and Renfrew Preschool, both directed at children with significant disabilities. Parker had high support needs.

He "eloped" from his house -- wandered off and left -- sometime in the morning. His parents contacted the police, but no general alert went out because those are restricted to children who may have been kidnapped. As time passed and a public push went out, people in Calgary searched for him -- they coordinated using a website (https://searchparker.org/) that is still up as a memorial.

Ultimately, he was discovered in a series of tunnels that direct the water flowing near a trail. Why was he there? Was he scared and overwhelmed and exhausted? Did he want somewhere dark and quiet? Water is comforting for some autistic people -- did he like to play in the water?

It's not clear how, exactly, Parker died, although the police have said there's zero evidence of foul play.

People have been memorializing Parker, putting candles and plushes in a memorial to his death. Were those people a community while he was alive, or only after he died?

There have also been calls to change the Amber Alert system or create a parallel system to cover disabled children in these sorts of situations as well.

I am a low support needs autistic person, and I've gotten so overwhelmed that I've run out of places and wandered off before. Because I'm able enough to be independent and because I'm an adult, I was able to get back -- calling an Uber, calling my parents, that sort of thing. It would be terrifying if I had no way to get back; if I had no way of communicating to people who may be around me that I was lost.

Parker Wells, may your memory be a blessing.

Links: I mostly looked through CTV's coverage, which can be found here:

The official fundraiser, which includes charities they have requested donations for, is here:

Autism Ontario has a statement, and specifically points out the word of Nicole Corrado, an autistic person who was once a missing person and has worked with police to create better systems for finding autistic people: