Reply #96: According to the family he doesn't have any disabilities

[NMMNG]

Brennan's mother, Jody Hawkins, suggested her son may have been avoiding searchers by following his father's advice.

"He had two thoughts going through his head all the time," she said. "Toby's always told him that 'if you get lost, stay on the trail.' So he stayed on the trail.

"We've also told him don't talk to strangers. ... When an ATV or horse came by, he got off the trail. ... When they left, he got back on the trail."

*snip*

Brennan's uncle, Bob Hawkins, said his nephew may have been afraid to contact the strangers because they weren't using the password his family had adopted.

The family explained that Brennan was born prematurely and he is socially immature as a result.

"He doesn't have any disabilities; he's just immature," Toby Hawkins said.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/06/22/missing.scout/


Even if the child had a mental disability ("was slow" as some might call it), so what? That is certainly nothing to deride him for. Any of us could easily become "slow" at any moment...it's as easy as a fall down the stairs, a car accident or a stray bullet from a gun.