As news stories started to pour out about the horrific tragedy in Connecticut, I began to notice the phrases reporters chose to use when describing the shooter: "afflicted with Aspergers"' "always was weird and wouldn't make eye contact", "was a loner who was obviously brilliant but kept to himself", etc.. I've also attached a link to an essay that is getting attention from a mother of a child with violent tendencies. While the essay points out some very real national problems with treating mental illness, the writer lumps ADHD, Autism, and several other disorders together under the umbrella of mental illness. You can read the essay here:
http://thebluereview.org/i-am-adam-lanzas-mother/As a mother of children with learning disorders and one with several of the traits of Aspergers, I am worried that the new national dialogue is painting a very broad brush by lumping all of these into one pot and leading to the misguided notion that maybe all people with these disorders are capable of such atrocities and are, therefore to be feared. And I'm worried that because of it, the next time my son doesn't read a social cue correctly in a classroom, that the teacher's, administration's, and school security's reactions will be escalated far out of proportion due to the spread of disinformation. I don't know how to change the course the national dialogue is taking and think there is actually very little I can do, but I am worried that my job advocating for my children just got a lot harder,
