To be concerned that the shooter in the US keeps being referred to as Aspergers

[pingu2209]

This worries me, I feel like the press are referring to the shooter's Aspergers are the reason for him flipping out and killing the children and teachers. He clearly had mental issues but Aspergers is not likely to be the issue.

There are so many people with Aspergers or are on the autistic spectrum but this does not go hand in hand with mental issues in terms of agression.

I feel this could end up in a nasty backlash.

YANBU.

I'm not overjoyed about him being referred to as a 'goth', either.

I agree. It's worrying.

It's a desperately sad situation for all involved. Happy people don't shoot others. Someone somewhere failed him. And the result is heartbreaking.

Link please because I haven't seen one that refers the aspergers being the reason at all.

The front page of the Sun referred to him as a 'Nerd' today.

Why don't they just call him a murderer?

It depends. If he did have Aspergers then YABU, it could have been one of the many many direct or indirect causes of his behaviour that will all be reported on as they come out. (eg maybe he had aspergers and was ostracised at school for it leading to the rejection/loner/anger complex that so many of these shooters seem to have had.)

If he did not have aspergers then of course YANBU

Same goes for the goth thing. if he was one then there are valid reasons to think it could have contributed.

I have only seen it reported as he possibly had aspergers but that aspergers did not explain his behaviour and people with aspergers were no more likely to be violent than people without aspergers.

I think his mum's comment of 'I love guns' probably sums up the cause way better than any syndrome or disease that he may have had!

finger pointing is a way of avoiding having to analysing the real issues, it's a distraction technic usually used by children.

Sky news app has a profile of him. Its says he has aspergers but, that aspergers in not linked to violent behaviour.

but I have not seen the US reports.

YABVVVVU to be mentioning that when 20 tiny lives and 7 not so tiny ones were snuffed out needlessly just 48 hours ago.

How about the next bandwagon, single parent family with a mother who homeschooled him and loved her guns?

How on earth could him being a goth have contributed??? That's utter nonsense.
Obviously so's the asperger's thing. None of it is any more relevant than if he'd had a penchant for Christmas jumpers or liked cheese.

It has been confirmed that he did have Aspergers. However, as the main confirmation is that he had Aspergers then the social awkwardness of the disorder is being regularly referred to, AS THOUGH that is the reason he did it.

However, there is utterly no link between Aspergers or Autism and becoming a murderer.

They did say that the boy struggled when his parents divorsed.

I have worked in depth with people with LDs and SN. People with either are not any more likely to kill than any other non SN/LD person. Now, people with MH problems are often labelled similarly. People with Schizophrenia in particular. There are exceptions to every rule but I am uncomfortable with anybody bring labelled as more likely to kill! IMO the only person more likely to kill is one who threatens to or has done before. Not anyone with the aforementioned conditions. It's pure sensationalism and best ignored. Personally, I wouldn't believe the date in the bloody Sun!!

Westboro Baptists are planning on picketing apparently. The killing is a sign of God's wrath against gay marriage.

I am pretty disgusted that they keep referring to Aspergers, this referral is the underlying link with the rational to such a terrible crime.

Anybody in the US now with Aspergers may be feeling worried for the backlash.

Well bandwagonit may have had SOME impact! Being a single mom isn't a crime, home schooling isn't a crime; isolating your child and instilling in them that guns are good probably should be a crime...

However, as the main confirmation is that he had Aspergers then the social awkwardness of the disorder is being regularly referred to, AS THOUGH that is the reason he did it.

I don't read it that way. Can you provide the link?

What I have read profiles him. So age, interests, hair colour, interviews of people who knew him physical description and description of personality. Part of him is that he had aspergers. As I said sky news have clearly put that it is not linked.

Can you provide a link that says it is?

Or are you saying they should ignore the aspergers and his problems socialising and pretend its not there?

I am a little worried too, Pingu, but so far it does not look like this will become a problem.
Although it is reported that he possibly had Asperger's, many reports also point out that having Asperger's does not make a person more (or less) likely to go on a shooting spree than not having the condition.

I think having easy access to an automatic weapon is one of the key requirements for a shooting spree.

I know the boy was a murderer, but the more that comes out about him, the more I do feel sorry for him.

Apparently his mother was also a survivalist/doomsday type, that's why she had the guns. How messed up is that?

It sounds like a number of things came together in this, it's not just one thing. YANBU to be concerned, it would be a shame for people to focus on one thing and not the whole picture.

That said, I agree that most of the accounts I've read have stressed that Aspergers is not associated with a greater tendency toward violence.

And I guess one silver lining could be that it makes people start seriously focusing on mental health issues, there are too many people like this boy who have no real treatment options and are just time bombs waiting to go off.

Apparently his mother was also a survivalist/doomsday type, that's why she had the guns. How messed up is that?

Seriously? There are thousands of 'preppers' world wide, how many do this?

Its not ok to mention aspergers but its ok to sayvits his mums fault?

I have personal experience of aspergers, but I feel blaming his mum is worse.very little detail has come out. Why are people jumping up to put blame on peoples shoulders?

I think it is because people instinctively want to try and get some kind of control (even illusory) over the situation happening again.

To do that, they have to try and think of common 'human being ingredients' that allow them to predict things like this happening (so that they can be prevented in future).

Unfortunately all the most obvious, profound ingredients are the ones that will be looked at first, regardless of whether or not they actually have any bearing... his gender, colour, age group, religion, mental health status, etc etc etc.

People will look at all these things and they will try to find patterns, the same way we do when we look at diseases to diagnose... what are the symptoms? what are the signs?

The process will inevitably be crude and flawed and blunt, and dangerous if then extrapolated into views of 'well all people from that group must behave that way'.

But its a process that needs to be done, it just needs to be done carefully and sensitively, and with awareness that the variables are incredibly, incredibly complex, and that nothing is black and white.

I think that it's understandable to be worried about JIT and our economic situation. If it pushed these people over the edge then we need to look to our systems.