Wonder how long it took for the Autistic insults to come

[pigletmania]

I was reading the DM coverage of the shootings, of course it is very sad and I hope tat the gunman is punished severly, it did not take long for the Autistic insults to come. I read in te same paragraph monster and Autistic, great stereotyping. The DM mentions that he had Autism a lot of times, as if every person with Autism is dangerous and a timebomb waiting to explode. The responses were just as hurtful

I definitely get it, I've looked after children with severe autism since I was 16. I don't worry about what stupid, ignorant people think. I've seen parents been tutted at and told to tell their shrieking child to shut up. There are always people who understand and are more sensitive.

nebulous my 'huh?' Post wasn't aimed at you btw

If my children go to school on Monday, (High School) they all know that for the best part of the day, half the kids in the corridors or in the lunch halls will be ducking and shouting 'don't shoot'. How do you think that makes them feel?
There may be people who understand and are more sensitive, but they're not walking down the corridors with my kids. They're not reporting the news in a sensible, factual, responsible fashion. They're not there, all day, every day trying to ensure this doesn't happen. Just look at this thread.

I agree with the OP. There's going to be a whole splatfest of ignorance and bigotry over the next few days, and any kids who are percieved as 'wierd' (whether they are autistic, goths, metallers, emos or just a bit socially inept) are going to be persecuted.

Funnily enough, no one ever seems to be able to cope with the idea that sometimes years of bullying from mundanes is a contributing factor to these explosions of violence - not the main or only cause, obviously, but the perpetrators are often people who have been in some way the 'community' dumping ground.

fwiw, i don't think it's at all helpful just to label someone as 'evil'. i don't see what that achieves other than to wash society's collective hands of any obligation to try to understand what happened.

I agree with this but I think it's even less helpful to label him as mentally ill or autistic or anything else when actually we have no idea what was going through his head or why.

At least labelling him as an evil monster is not going to affect anybody else's daily battle against ignorant prejudice.

Oh really shesariver? well, I get quite tired of bigots labeling people suffering from mental health problems as 'evil', 'a monster', 'mad' 'selfish' 'lazy' etc etc etc, without even trying to understand what they're going through.

A 20-year-old young man with no history of comitting violent crime has killed his mother and comitted suicide. So, yes, I'm sorry for him and I'm sorry for his family. That doesn't take away anything from my abhorrence of his crime and my compassion for the victims.

I have a son with autism. My first thought when I read hat the shooter had ASD was "fuck, there will be a backlash"

It's true! As is what mrsDV said.

YABU OP. Just as with any member of society people go off the rails.
When this person comes to trial they will l

Well, he took his mother's guns to kill with, so I blame the parents.
Why would anyone living in a quiet and happy corner of the world feel the need to fill her house with numerous items specifically designed to kill people?

When he comes to trial, Kitty?
You can't try a corpse any more.

..look at all aspects of his personality as they would with anyone.
DM coverage is crass and alays has been. People who believe all people with Autism are capable of this sort of crime are the same people who think all Muslims blow people up.

MajesticWhine I wasn't saying I don't believe personality disorders are real. SantaFlashes has summed up my point - that it's a term the media have realised they can use quite lazily because few people really understand what it covers. Then there will be the kind of backlash against people with specifically diagnosed personality disorders, in the way the OP is worried about re autism. It is a term I'm seeing used more and more, but never with any explanation of what is meant.

Theala yes, it is a philosophical debate. Here's my view in brief. I think lots of people (often those in marginalised social groups) are labelled 'evil' when they are not and actually there are other mitigating reasons behind their behaviour. However, that doesn't mean that evil people don't exist and evil actions don't happen. And the fact is that we simply do not know with Adam Lanza yet (if we ever will). Note that I said he may have just done something evil. I don't know for sure. But by the same token, neither do you 'know' that he had mental health difficulties and I don't think it's helpful to assume without question that he did.

PlentyofPubeGardens exactly. I don't see how saying 's/he must be mentally ill' is any better for society than 's/he must be evil.

off to shop now and try to forget the awfulness of all this for a bit.

When he comes to trial, Kitty?You can't try a corpse any more.
Inquest! Wrong word. He will be found guilty, it's a trial of sorts!

I see from those posting, thanks very much for your support tat I am not overreacting, this is reality for a lot of Autistic people/children and their families. In the DM article Autism/Aspergers is bandied around quite a bit, yes to highlight how different the shooter was from everybody else, and put him in a league of his own. Whilst that is true, how does that make other people Wth Autism and teir families feel, that they are somehow not like everybody else, a different species, dangerous, violent, to be feared and locked away from society.

'DM coverage is crass and alays has been. People who believe all people with Autism are capable of this sort of crime are the same people who think all Muslims blow people up.'

How does that negate the concerns the OP has for her daughter, or me for my son?

DM coverage is crass and alays has been. People who believe all people with Autism are capable of this sort of crime are the same people who think all Muslims blow people up.

Whilst that is also true, the DM should not be helping people to arrive at that conclusion.

That's right TheNebulous ut still is a concern.

TheNebulous It doesn't obviously. Prejudice is everywhere. MN isn't going to find the solution millions of others have tried to find over many centuries

Feenie I agree. The tabloids feed prejudice.

Some of us are trying, some are gawping on the sidelines and some are completely oblivious.
It is ever so, unless you are directly involved in some way, it is a fleeting concern at best.

TheNebulous how would you suggest we change the opinions of people who don't give a s**t? Education doesn't work because these people don't care. You can educate them all you like and they still don't care. DM feeds their stupid minds and confirms their stupid thoughts.

Yes really theala. At no point did I say you dont have sympathy for the victims either. Its just as a Psychiatric Nurse I get sick of seeing what some of my patients have had to suffer because of peoples assumptions and generalisations about mental illness, and have seen at first hand exactly what they go through at times, particularly since my MIL has bipolar.

As I said this man may well be mentally ill - but no-one knows yet. And whether society as you put it is comfortable or not evil people exist, Ive met some of them. Not all will go on to kill obviously, evil can manifest itself in different ways. He may well have had a "reason" but equally he may not, at least not one that would much sense.

Just checked the DM story and one idiot did post 'I work with adults with learning disabilities and autism and they all have the potential for violence.'

YANBU OP, this is fuelling anti autism feeling

we have to talk about Kevin.........

Kevin didnt have autism. My DD is as far from Kevin as you can imagine, she'd only hurt someone by accidentally squishing them in a hug