EDMONTON - Terry Molnar knew nothing of his condition until he was diagnosed about five years ago. Molnar, 43, has fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, a permanent brain injury afflicting at least one per cent of Canadians. But like the vast majority of people with FASD, he has no visible signs — the small eyes, the flat bridge of the nose and the smoothed and thin upper lip that are strong indicators that a mother drank while pregnant.
“It was an eye-opener for me,” Molnar says of his diagnosis. “Now I can understand why I was doing all that stuff,” he said, recalling an adolescence and early adulthood spent out of control.
Molnar’s pattern of impulsive behaviour — unaltered even after facing consequences time and time again — is now recognized by many in the criminal justice system as telltale of an FASD offender.
Since the Alberta government launched its 10-year plan on FASD five years ago — a strategy with heavy emphasis on screening and education — more offenders are coming to court already diagnosed with FASD, and the justice system is struggling to find the most effective ways to deal with them...
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