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

sadly, lots of people i know with autistic DCs have been called up/asked today if they knew of the autism 'connection' with what's happened in Connecticut.. this has done NOTHING but upset the parents of people who have nothing to do with the terrible happenings.

i've kept the TV and radio off today, as DD (who is 5 and dx ASD) pipes up 'Oh, autism, that's like me' everytime she hears the word...

am also dreading the school run on monday as people will ask...

i feel sick - OP, i know exactly what you mean

OP I just wanted to say, I understand. I really do. If anyone thinks that this kind of crap reporting doesn't impact on others then they are naive at best.

The way that it is always reported seems to be, "well he had autism/aspergers/mental illness/played video games/wore black, so that explains why he massacred children". Yes, obviously intelligent people will realise that it's bollocks, and that's great, but there is no way in fuck that describes the majority of people unfortunately.

Know how I realise this? Because I was at school when the Columbine massacre happened. My username will give you a hint as to my fashion style at the time. A week or so after the massacre a teacher held an assembly where they talked about Columbine and said, and I remember the exact words, "it's always the unusual kids and the goths that do things like this". It wasn't him joking either. I bet you can guess the reception me and my friends got from the rest of the school after that.

And that was nothing compared to the shit people get if they dare go public about suffering from mental illness. I've heard it suggested that people with depression shouldn't work with children. Or that people with depression should have their kids taken off them.

I can understand your concern.

After Virginia Tech, a lot of Koreans (and other Pacific Asians) got a lot of harassment, abuse, and assaults - people punishing them for what "one of them" did. To the point the one in Congress and the South Korean ambassador apologised for it (why, I don't know, but it was seen as the right thing for them to do). Bloody ridiculous (with all the massacres by white men no one apologises for them) but it happens. I know whenever these things happen, a lot of people are concern about violent backlash against people seen to be tied to the person if they in anyway 'different'.

Fanjo just got back from our day out, that is and they wrk with people who have Autism, in that case everyone has the potential for violence

Murder, my niece has Aspergers and is a goth so double whammy. She must b a murderer. Ths type of crass reporting s going to influence people. Those people who made comments in the DM are those who will see ut and about who will judge

I reported that comment to Daily Mail mods so hopefully its gone now, in case anyone cant find it.

Whatever the reasons behind this awful event, the Daily Mail needs to stop speculating and just STFU until they have some hard facts and something useful to say about them. It achieves nothing more than fueling readers' gossip and feeding their prejudices, whilst the people they apply their crass blanket assumptions to are left feeling pretty crap.

Never mind pigletjohn. Give it less than a week and they'll be back to unhelpfully insisting that all autistic children are the next Bill Gates.

You could just have asked, Fanjo. I dislike being an unintentional source of distress in others, any misery I create I prefer to be intentional.

On the same theme as the OP, I had a very distressed child in my class a few years back who had been attacked and had beer sprayed over her and her mother. Because the lads that did it were punishing them for being Muslim terrorists.
She and her parent were Spanish Catholic, but looked Middle Eastern and mother had a headscarf on.

That is awful TNB . Are you a teacher btw

That is good fanjo, I just clicked on my link and the comments about Autism have been toned down which is good