American man offers $100 to ID person who wrote hateful autism-letter

A hurtful letter written to the Ontario family of a boy with autism has sparked international outrage, including the possibility of criminal charges and calls to have the woman publicly identified.

The letter, which was sent to a Newcastle, Ont., grandmother who was caring for her autistic grandson, has made headlines around the world since it was published earlier this week.

In it, the writer complains of the sounds the child makes and refers to the 13-year-old boy as an unlovable wild animal that should be “euthanized.”

Read the complete letter here.

Durham Regional Police are investigating the contents of the letter. While they say it does not constitute hate speech, they have not discounted the possibility of other charges.

Should the person, a self-described mother, who wrote the letter ever be publicly identified, charges may come. But scorn is inevitable.

Many have demanded to know the identity of the woman, including an American father who has offered a reward for whoever can accurately provide the person’s name.

[ Related: An open letter to 'one pissed off mother' ]

Wade Huntley, the father of an autistic boy, has offered $100 for the name and says his intentions are altruistic. (He says $100 is all he can afford.)

"I hope that in identifying her it will humanize her, causing everyone to reel in their vitriol a little and consider the situation with an eye toward positive resolution, but that only works if she comes forward on her own," Huntley writes on his blog, A Voice For My Son.

"Unfortunately, as she has not done it yet, the fear that someone else will disclose her identity may be the only way to encourage that. I am not advocating for the author of that letter in any way, I just think that there is a way to turn this into something positive for the community.

"The intent of my offer is for this woman to come forward on her own, whether it be out of desire to right her wrongs, or out of fear that she will be outed by someone else."

Altruistic, my knee. Right or wrong, this is a "name and shame" campaign. The hope is to put a face to the vitriol that has boiled up since that hateful letter was posted. “This is the person that we loathe,” we want to declare, perhaps with the end goal of forgiveness. We want to remove Darth Vader’s mask and see there is a human inside.

The problem is, online "name and shame" campaigns are rarely a good idea. They don’t end well, for either the person being named or those with good intentions in mind.

In the case of Amanda Todd, a B.C. teen who killed herself after being terrorized online, an online campaign published the name and address of the person believed to be her attacker. The information was incorrect, and resulted in another man becoming the target of personal attacks and vigilantism.

[ More Brew: Ontario police say letter telling family to ‘euthanize’ autistic child is not a hate crime ]

In the similar case of Rehtaeh Parsons, several names of boys believed to be her alleged attackers were released online after police decided not to press charges and she committed suicide.

An online group did their own investigation and determined that several of the names were wrong. They released their own findings to police, who later laid charges of child pornography and warned against the harassment of those identified online.

Amid the confusion and publicity and incorrect information, police are now forced to juggle the security of the accused and otherwise identified with their mission to find justice. It’s a messy business.

Seeking to identify the person behind the hateful letter, which called an autistic child a "wild animal kid" among other horrible, is natural. We want to see the face of insensitivity.

We want to see her cry and writhe and beg for forgiveness, so we can grant it and have closure. Or, failing that, we want to see her defy the public sentiment so we can be justified in our hatred.

It won't give us closure; it won't be a conclusion that gives the family satisfaction.

And unlike Huntley suggests, it won't lead to the solution this person desires.

Anyone who could write such hateful things and post it without attaching their name does not desire acceptance from the outside world. They desire closed curtains and they feed themselves on internal justification.

They won't be satisfied with an "amicable solution." The demons inside have more selfish ambitions.

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