Three weeks ago, Avonte Oquendo, a non-verbal autistic 14-year old boy, walked out of his school in Queens and disappeared. Film footage shows Avonte loping down the hallway of the school without an aide. A security guard briefly questioned him and then the boy was let loose into the world.
For obvious reasons, I’ve followed this story closely on the local news stations. I followed his brother’s twitterfeed. I’ve searched his name on google for the latest information.
The latest information isn’t good. They can’t find the kid. How can a non-verbal autistic child simply disappear?
I debated joining the search in Queens on Monday. I do know where autistic kids like to go. But then I decided to stay here. I need to keep an eye on my own kids.
Three weeks have passed and now there is little hope of a good ending to this story. His family now thinks that someone abducted him.
Al Shapton has joined the search group. CNN and the national news sources are following the story. Where were they before? Where were they before Avonte ran outside the school in his striped Old Navy shirt?
New York City’s programs for autistic children are terrible. I met two families this past month who moved out of New York City into my town, because they were exhausted by the New York City Board of Education. The city’s procedure for educating autistic children is to first offer an awful school, like this one in Queens. A non-verbal autistic child should never be left alone in a school. An aide should be trailing that child every single minute. Avonte should never have gotten to that exit of the school and encountered the stupid security guard. But that’s what happens in a poorly funded school for autism. And then only after a parent protests and hires an expensive lawyer and goes through every legal manuever will the city relent and provide a proper education for the child. The city knows that most parents will be worn down by the process, and either give up or move.
This situation is mean-spirited and evil.
Even in lesser evil school districts and towns, there is simply not enough support for families with children with autism and other special needs. These children aren’t lost in Queens, but they are neglected and ignored. The parents are in a never-ending battle with schools, insurance companies, and their communities.
I pray that we find Avonte, but I also want to point to the millions of other Avontes who need help.
Apt. 11d 
I live in Long Island City only a few blocks from the school and we have been following it very closely. I know a lot of people in the area suspect that the family is right. One thing I have not seem commented on was that the school is brand new. Opened for the first time this fall. On top of all the other problems in NYC schools I’m sure figuring out new didn’t help the situation.
For anyone who’s interested I can comment a bit on the hyper-local factors that might impact a search. Here’s a map of the neigborhood https://maps.google.com/?ll=40.743372,-73.955541&spn=0.014062,0.01929&t=m&z=16 (hopefully). The school is at 51-10 Center Blvd, a block south of the Riverview lounge and restaurant. Also note that the Google maps satellite image is several years and lots of construction out of date.
The geography of LIC is such that it’s good to think about it in different sections. There’s the park right next to the school, nice, but small and easily searched. West of Vernon to the river is similarly small, mostly residential and easily searched. There are a couple large construction sites and an open undeveloped patch to the South West, but again – it’s just not that much space. A police search with ample man-power should be able to cover this entire area thoroughly and quickly. If he is somehow in this area he must have left and come back, or some of my neighbors are very bad people.
Between 21st St. and Vernon and from 44th Drive to Borden is a more varied area. Vernon and to a lesser extent Jackson are the main commercial strips in the area. There are lots of homes, but also a fair number of light industrial properties and a fair number of abandoned industrial properties in this area. It’s not really that large, but this variation and especially the abandoned properties mean there are plenty of hiding places. The police say they have been searching these repeatedly, but unlike the park I suspect it’s relatively hard to be sure you’ve checked everything.
Along Borden there it is almost entirely industrial with lots of abandoned warehouses, and some very busy ones (Fresh Direct is based here) for a good distance. Newtown creek is basically surrounded by industrial/abandoned industrial facilities on all sides and all the way inland. Lots of places to hide and search down that way.
Outside this area though it gets a lot tough. The 7 train at Vernon-Jackson is very close to the school. From there it’s 3 stops to Times Square and on the way you can connect to every North-South subway in Manhattan. Or Metro North. And there is one Long Island Railroad yard just a couple blocks from the school. Normally it is used exclusively to park trains during the day between the morning and evening rush. There are some platforms to get on though, and at the larger yard marked Hunters Point some trains depart bound for various points East. Between these stations you can get pretty far pretty quickly.
It has been jarring to see the search go on this long. Signs have been up everywhere since he went missing, and the police and volunteers all over looking everywhere. When it first started I thought “how far can he get with all these people looking?” Evidently too far. I hope they find him alive and well and soon, but as you say it is hard to be optimistic after all this time.
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I don’t know why the parents wouldn’t put a tracker on him. I know a lot of children that have it. That would be the right thing to do.
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