Stopping Asperger’s from Becoming Another Victim in the CT Massacre

I first heard about the Connecticut school tragedy from the TV stations at the gym, and felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. I wanted to hear more about what had happened but couldn't stand to keep listening as the terrible details begin to emerge.

In my mind, I could easily picture the chaotic scene inside the elementary school, with screams over the public address system and teachers locking their doors, and telling their small charges to get into the closets for safety. I could imagine parents feeling the floor drop out under them when they learned that their first-grader had been killed. So utterly horrible and senseless.

I felt another pang of dispair when I read that the gunman, Adam Lanza, had been diagnosed with Asperger’s, sometimes characterized as a mild form of autism with a high degree of social awkwardness. I thought of all the many remarkable teens and young adults with the same diagnosis we have met along our journey with our teenage son who has developmental disabilities.  So many of them are smart, caring people, who just want to be accepted as they are, quirks and all. Would they somehow be blamed for this atrocity? Would there be an immediate leap to brand all people with Asperger’s as prone to violence?

In a widely-circulated AP article, a Los Angeles expert quickly dispelled that notion.

“There really is no clear association between Asperger's and violent behavior,” said psychologist Elizabeth Laugeson, an assistant clinical professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

But many people over at WrongPlanet.net, an online community and resource for Autism and Asperger’s, are very worried that with all the media focus and frenzy on Lanza’s diagnosis, it will paint a broad brush of blame for all teens and adults with those developmental disabilities.

One individual with Asperger’s said he is “really worried about the hate now” and another wrote about that he’s been bullied and beat up for most of his life, and fears it will only be harder for him in the future.

A posting from Autism Rights Watch lays out the issue very well:

“The search for answers should not be a search for a scapegoat. Autism is no excuse or explanation to evil. Being “autistic”, “odd”, “awkward”, “camera shy”, a “nerd” and “uncomfortable with others” does not cause a person to become a mass murderer. Autistic persons are more likely to be victims, rather than perpetrators of violence. “

Please, let's all work together to prevent another victim of this terrible tragedy.