I've had an older autistic woman on board and it was difficult. I felt for the woman's guardian because it was clear that he could do nothing to calm her. We opted to go with her only because the passengers around her were very supportive and she eventually did settle down, but it was unnerving when she was screaming at the top of her lungs. With that said, I can fully understand a crew making a different decision under similar circumstances. My only question is why, in this day and age, is a pilot leaving the cockpit when the plane is away from the gate to deal with a disturbance in the cabin. Without venturing too deeply into the subject, I will simply say that that raises a few flags.