[senco-forum] CO poisoning, personality disorders, and professional misconduct

Long time members of the SENCo forum may have noticed I've contributed
to this list on only rare occasions over the past twelve months or so.
Now this is somewhat uncharacteristic given I've a reputation for
being one of the list's more profligate posters. Well despite my
apparent absence I can assure you I have remained active as a lurker.
But at the same time I've been immersing myself in a new field of
interest, one that has some relevance to professional educators. So
why haven't I been posting about this? Well up until now I've resisted
this temptation, choosing instead to wait until such time as I've
gained sufficient knowledge and first-hand experience to contribute
with some authority.

So what have I been up to? Well I've been exploring -- or perhaps more
accurately forced to explore -- the murky world of personality
disorders. Furthermore I've learned quite often these seem to have
their roots in childhood experience, which of course renders this
subject highly relevant to this particular list.

Oh by the way, lest you get the wrong initial impression, let me state
here and now my interest was triggered after I suffered the misfortune
of moving into a block of flats where I all too soon discovered
several of my closest neighbours are badly afflicted with one or more
of these disorders!

For example the man who lives in the flat above me almost perfectly
fits the diagnostic criteria for DID (dissociative identity disorder)
that's perhaps better known by its old name 'multiple- or
split-personality disorder'. Furthermore several of his many
personalities are likely afflicted with severe antisocial-personality
disorder. Significantly, I'm told he was already manifesting some
symptoms of these disorders while he was still attending school.

If this wasn't bad enough, the young woman (in her early 20s) who
moved into the flat below me was and still is being stalked and
ruthlessly intimidated by her estranged husband, a man in his 20s I
can best described as an out and out psychopath. OK, so to date he
hasn't actually been convicted of killing anyone. However during one
unguarded conversation he did confess to me that he'd deliberately
staged a fatal road accident in a cold and calculated manner that
resulted in two people loosing their lives. Have I gone to the Police?
Yes of course I have, however their response to me was they are well
aware of this incident and it has been "dealt with". By this I assume
they are powerless to do anything about this as they have insufficient
evidence to prove in a court of law he was guilty of setting this up.
By way of some background this young man who is still in his 20s was
adopted into a family comprising a father who is a legal expert at the
pinnacle of his profession and a doting mother who chooses to belive
every word he says. No doubt he must have learned at a very early age
exactly how far he could go before crossing the boundary of 'beyond
reasonable doubt'. Furthermore the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service)
must surely be mindful of the fact has free access to the very best
legal representation even money can't buy!

So much for two of my close neighbours who have major personality
disorders, well I know this might seem implausible but the former
resident of the flat below mine was recently convicted of seducing and
raping a nine year old girl for which he received a 14 year jail
sentence. I guess there's a lot of truth in the old adage; When busses
arrive they always seem to come in threes!

Anyway, rather than make this posting overly long I'll be outlining
what I've learned about personalty disorders that might be of interest
to teachers and other educators in a subsequent contribution to this
list. But before finishing I will say here and now that what I've
learned may be highly relevant to the vast numbers of teachers who
entertain that niggling fear in the back of their minds that one day
they become a victim of a malicious unfounded allegation of
behaviourial or sexual misconduct made against by one of their
students ...an unfair allegation that could all to easily result in
their career as a professional teacher being terminated prematurely.

David Bowles