Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion National Dialogue Hurting Or Helping?

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,

Some people want to make sense of such an atrocity and believe that it could have been predicted and therefore in the future, prevented. The NYT article says his classmates "weren't surprised", but the vast majority of people who do not connect with their high school or town do not do such things.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/15/n...-is-now-identified-as-a-mass-killer.html
A Gunman, Recalled as Intelligent and Shy, Who Left Few Footprints in Life
By DAVID M. HALBFINGER
New York Times
December 14, 2012

Still, after hearing of the news on Friday, Ms. DeVivo reconnected with friends from Newtown, and the consensus was stark. “They weren’t surprised,” she said. “They said he always seemed like he was someone who was capable of that because he just didn’t really connect with our high school, and didn’t really connect with our town.”

One of the stories I saw mentioned "Asperger's" but also said this kid was not physically capable of feeling pain--not a symptom typically associated with Asperger's. So clearly there was more going on with him, unfortunately. Perhaps that is a good thing to emphasize when discussing this with others.

This is just one level up from the guy who bullied me in elementary school and killed his parents and killed himself at about the same age as this shooter.

Although that kid (my bully) was not well off, financially.

This guy's father should have dealt with this problem. He was making plenty of money at GE and should have at least have some idea of what was going on.

He obviously hated his mother. He shot her in the face.

I have the same concerns as Lisa, that a sort of witch-hunt may ensue in the panic of people trying to make sense of why the shooting occured. At least in the short term, it could very well could make advocating alot harder and any quirky kid who doesn't mesh as well as the narrow-minded adults think they should will get swept into it and possibly targeted.

It's going to be very tense in most schools this week, kids will pick up on their parents' fears and teachers' fears.

The problem with the internet news is that it magnifies an issue and all the many, many more stories about other kids who didn't fit in and turned out fine are drowned out. Maybe the media and comments should be bombarded by stories from those people.

ABQ: I share your concern.

Useful links on this:
http://www.emilywillinghamphd.com/2012/12/autism-empathy-and-violence-one-of.html

http://paulacdurbinwestbyautisticbl...ism-aurora-shooter-and-actual-crime.html

DeeDee

This is not about Aspergers. Its about unchecked rage and a lack of self control. Being an Aspie does not mean a lack of empathy, just an inability to know what others are feeling.

Here is a link about a child that is out of control. Its one thing to have a little lawyer, its another to have a little Genghis Khan. Most of us have the loving lawyer, not the nascent violent killer, the jekyll and hyde.

And this mom knew enough to seek help.

http://anarchistsoccermom.blogspot.com/2012/12/thinking-unthinkable.html

Another here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/m...ld-a-psychopath.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0


My Uncle worked with kids and adults like this. He made it his mission to get them locked up anyway he could - to protect them, their families, and the public.

I'm with Austin on this one.

Agreed. The much larger (societal) tragedy is that it is SO HARD to get help for a person who very clearly NEEDS that help.

It just should not be so hard to get help for a psychotic family member... but it all too often is.

I also hope that the mental illness here doesn't get lost in the details of radical acceleration and ASD, which I think we can all agree are not really the relevant information in the first place.

Bostonian - this was specifically one of the articles which raised concern - thanks for posting the link.

DeeDee and Austin - thanks for the links. Very good reading.

JonLaw - what an awful experience. I cannot imagine the trauma.

Dbat, Bzylzy, master of none - thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. It has been something that I've kept to myself because of worrying that I was going to somehow come off calloused about the real pain and sorrow, which is so not the case.

HowlerKarma - indeed.