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.

gosh, saintly and dawndonna - based on your posts I retract my YABU and change my mind. I really didn't think people would make anything of a simple statement that the killer happened to have a certain condition which may of may not have indirectly been one reason for his actions. How appalling.

I know many children with aspergers
so do i. and i know whole families, including my own.

The real crime here is that guns are so widely accepted and available in the US that anyone who is mentally unwell also has access to them. By the way I am not saying people with autism are necessarily mentally unwell. I'm saying whether he had asd or not is irrelevant. He obviously was mentally unwell and yet given access and responsibility to use semi automatic weapons that are designed to kill a number of people with relative ease.

Its also being suggested he had a personality disorder. I have BPD, and on one of the BPD facebook pages I follow, someone left a vile message this afternoon saying "all you head fucks should shoot yourself before you shoot other people, one of you killed a group of kids yesterday, how are you feeling about yourselves now!!". It was horrible.

OP totally understand how you feel :(

it is hard to comment as even though my son has austism i have very limited knowledge about ASD. I know about my son's austism and how to care for his needs but another ASD child i wouldnt have a clue.

ASD is not like a broken leg or a cut that needs stiches.

As I said on the other thread, I have a child who has AS, and I just can't get worked up about this. People that know he has Aspergers have already met him and are perfectly capable of judging who he is from that, rather than through a label.

I am really surprised to hear that there are children that don't want to go to school tomorrow because of this, and I'm sorry that anyone is surrounded by such arseholes. I can only say that our experience is not like that.

Just to give a balance here's a few very successful people who have AS.

Al Gore, 1948-, former US Vice President and presidential candidate
Bill Gates, 1955-, Entrepreneur and philanthropist. A key player in the personal computer revolution.
Bob Dylan, 1941-, US singer-songwriter
Charles Dickinson, 1951, US Writer
Crispin Glover, 1964-, US actor
James Taylor, 1948-, US singer/songwriter
Jamie Hyneman, 1956-, Co-host of Mythbusters
Jeff Greenfield, 1943-, US political analyst/speechwriter, a political wonk
John Motson, 1945-, English sports commentator
Michael Palin, 1943-, English comedian and presenter
Robin Williams, 1951-, US Actor
Tony Benn, 1925-, English La

I feel positive about my son's future and 1 horrific crime will not make me doubt my son or any other person who has ASD.

Its nice that you feel so unnaffected by your childs autism outraged.

Weren't there press reports on Friday that his brother had told the police that he (Adam) had Aspergers? I don't think there is an intention from what I have read to link Aspergers to violent behaviour.

how many of those people on your list have disclosed they have a diagnosis freddo? internet speculation isn't really the same...

I feel positive about my son's Asperger's too. It's other people's reactions that concern me.

Bisjo, there is a correlation between violence and lots of things. You can't generalise that all people with aspergers are capable of such atrocities and you can't even say his potential aspergers was the cause of his actions. So best not saying anything at all unless you want to be ignorant.

I don't know tbh LightPassenger, I didn't check out the link that thoroughly. I know Bill Gates is confirmed to have it, but either way, it's not exactly a massive leap to make. It's perfectly possible for many successful people to have AS.

Like ChristmasPants I feel positive about my son's future and don't automatically jump to the conclusion that Aspergers means failure in life.

And it really doesn't make me 'unaffected by my child's autism'

People everywhere are so quick to judge based on absolutely flimsy information. I know because before I knew anything of asd I too had read how media linked aspergers to these violent acts... I thought there must be a connection too. How wrong I was. The media have a lot to answer for.

my son was my 1st child, so it is all i have known so apart from the few off days. I am unaffected as to me living with a ASD child is normal.

Where's the link?

I dont jump to the conclusion that it means failure in life either, but statistics show that it will be A LOT harder for him than if he was NT.

Its just the way you say it outraged, that its your unnaffected outlook that will lead to your sons future success.

It sort of implies that anyone who has a different outlook to yours will cause problems.

Im know Im not putting it well.

I see and hear what other people think about and treat people with autism and that is what scares me for his future, not my son but other people.

The backlash to this story illustrates just what Im talking about.

Festive I suggest you re-read my post again. Where did I say I think there is a link between Aspergers and violence?

Can all the people trying to impose some kind of ban on discussing this please be even faintly realistic? Obviously people are going to discuss it, because it might mean their kids might not be safe. If you don't like it, tough.

Yes it IS very concerning that he is being referred to as Asperger's, as there might now be (and there has already been, by some reports above) some kind of totally unjustified backlash against people with the condition, by the usual ill-informed knuckle-draggers. So YANBU.

I don't mean it like that at all Amber, and it's late and I can't think of how to put it across better.

Maybe, it's this 'I see and hear what other people think about and treat people with autism and that is what scares me'. I don't see or hear horrible stuff from the people around me. Maybe I'm completly oblivious to it and its just not bing said for me to hear, but I just don't hear all this negativity from anyone in RL.

m.usatoday.com/article/news/1772589?articlePage=0

People do hear mental health, autism, aspergers and link them together. At its most extreme autism can lead to such difficulties in coping with the world in which we live that people who suffer from it are often unable to participate. They can't communicate, they need their routine, they often need help with everyday activities and yes can become frustrated and lash out
However, autism is not the same for each and every person this is why it is diagnosed on a spectrum!
Most of us will have heard some awfully derogatory terms used to describe these people and unfortunately there are some people who are not bothered about the distinctions of where people are on the spectrum, in their minds they are all the same .
However, I do not believe that someone would choose to do this unless they were suffering from some mental illness. There is a huge difference between mental illness and autism.
Like others have said I do not think there is any quick fix to this but I do think that there are many different aspects that need to be looked at not just gun control. This American mum is also worried and I found her story really difficult to read

anarchistsoccermom.blogspot.co.uk/

Willitbe I also read that blog (it's gone viral in the US) and found it very disturbing.

Then I just now saw that there's growing concern about her and her son, based on previous things she has written. Here's one writer on it:

sarahkendzior.com/2012/12/16/want-the-truth-behind-i-am-adam-lanzas-mother-read-her-blog/

It just all seems so sad. And it seems like so many people just don't get enough help.

I think you're being pretty judgemental yourself. Aspergers clearly affects you personally, and yes it isn't an explanation of his terrible actions, but maybe he did have it.
To say he 'clearly had mental issues'- is being pretty rude about other people with significant illness - are you happy to stigmatise other psychiatric conditions with increased risk of mass murder?