Hello!

13 Comments

A Brisbane mum has spoken out about a nasty letter she received from her neighbour complaining about noises being made by her autistic son.

The note found in her letter box, written from an anonymous neighbour, reads, “when you moved in we heard these strange moaning and shouting coming from your garden every day and night, for which we were concerned may be illegal activities, so we contacted the police who in turn have visited your premises”, shares 7 news.

“They informed us of your situation that a person in your family is suffering from a mental illness and that was the source of the noise,” it reads.

note fb

They said they sympathise with the mum’s situation but said the noise is “very disturbing” and comes from her garden “continuously, every day, sometimes late into the night”.

“It is not fair on the community to have to bear this disturbance especially as it occurs daily,” the note reads.

“I would kindly request that you consider your neighbours and try to limit the amount of time that is spent in the garden such that we do not have to listen to the disturbing noise daily and sometimes before 6am.”

“If this continues at the regular intervals it has been, I intend to make formal complaints against your address to council to resolve this issue,” the note reads.

The mum wrote a response on Facebook saying while she appreciates that “the odd noises of a mentally ill person can be disturbing” they have “no clue” what it’s like compared to living with it “24/7 for 17 years”.

“Having three police turn up at my doorstep at 10.30 at night when I’m new to the area may have made you feel you are avoiding confrontation, but for me it was alarming to say the least,” the mum wrote.

“Talking with council won’t help, he’s not a dog, it’s a person. If you’d like to take him on a holiday so I can get some rest that would be awesome. Otherwise, please feel free to come and chat with me, there’s a lot you do not understand.”

The mum added he barely gets out a sentence with more than five words and the noise the neighbours are referring to are him humming and yelping occasionally. He does it as a “calming mechanism”.

She hoped the person who wrote the letter would address the issues with her in person, and added “it’s not okay to control and bully over people”.

I will never understand how some people can be so cruel. This is horrible behaviour. Offering support would have been a much better choice.

Share your comments below.

We may get commissions for purchases made using links in this post. Learn more.
  • I work with special needs children and I know that if you have zero knowledge of people with special needs that the sounds they make can be quite confronting. They can shreek and make very loud high pitched noises, yell and make some very odd sounds. Each special needs person is different but these sounds are their way of communicating or simply their way of calming themselves so they can clear any frustrations, etc. Once you get to know each child you learn their sounds and their ways and some of their sounds just become background noise as you know they are ok and just centering themselves. Nothing you say or do will change that. This is something they need to do themselves. For the parents of special needs childen it is not a relaxing or peaceful exsistance. It is your life 24/7.

    Reply

  • I very much doubt the Police advised the person who complained what the situation was.

    Reply

  • Good on the mother for being so forthright about the letter she received but doing it in such a nice way. Doubt the letter writer would like it if the anonymity was removed at any time.

    Reply

  • That wasn’t a nice letter but I liked the mum’s response.

    Reply

  • People are such cowards and so judgemental. They have no idea what it’s like for parents, let alone parents of a child with a disability.

    Reply

  • If they have a problem at least have the courtesy and decency to talk to this mum face to face. How awful for her to have moved in and be treated like this. Perhaps after a face to face chat they would understand all that is on this mum’s plate and understand that her autistic son is a person not a dog to be ordered around!!

    Reply

  • I have seen this all over social media, radio, tv, etc. This is disgusting, disgraceful, hideous and uncaring on so many levels. What kind of society do we live in now? This just breaks my heart for a family trying to do the best for their son. Perhaps the neighbour should spend their time getting to know their neighbours rather than anonymously being a horrible person.

    Reply

  • I think it’s a horrible letter, but maybe she did have a teeny point about limiting time in the garden before 6am.

    Reply

  • The complainant could have approached the boy’s Mum about the noise and given her the opportunity to explain why it was happening. Did they think she actually had a dog she was mistreating?

    Reply

  • All I can think is that person who wrote that letter is the disturbance. What a selfish, ugly hearted person.

    Reply

  • How intolerant and without compassion can people be ! Sure, noise can be annoying. But are we just as intolerant towards our neighbour who has a barking dog ? I’m sure dogs can produce just as much noise.

    Reply

  • To be fair I can see both sides to this story. It’s not nice to get the letter but it’s not nie to have to deal with loud noises every day either.

    Reply

  • Gee that poor mum :(

    Reply

Post a comment
Add a photo
Your MoM account


Lost your password?

Enter your email and a password below to post your comment and join MoM:

You May Like

Loading…

Looks like this may be blocked by your browser or content filtering.

↥ Back to top

Thanks For Your Star Rating!

Would you like to add a written rating or just a star rating?

Write A Rating Just A Star Rating
Join