Autism Doesn't Cause Murder
I am on the autism spectrum, having ADHD, and I can't imagine how you would even point a gun at a 6-year-old, let alone pull the trigger. (Autism, Asperger's and ADHD are all mental health disorders on the Autism spectrum.)
Priscilla Gilman, a mother with an autistic child, writes in The New York Times in the wake of Adam Lanza's Sandy Hook school slaughter:
Let me clear up a few misconceptions. For one thing, Asperger's and autism are not forms of mental illness; they are neurodevelopmental disorders or disabilities. Autism is a lifelong condition that manifests before the age of 3; most mental illnesses do not appear until the teen or young adult years. Medications rarely work to curb the symptoms of autism, but they can be indispensable in treating mental illness like obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.Underlying much of this misreporting is the pernicious and outdated stereotype that people with autism lack empathy. Children with autism may have trouble understanding the motivations and nonverbal cues of others, be socially naïve and have difficulty expressing their emotions in words, but they are typically more truthful and less manipulative than neurotypical children and are often people of great integrity. They can also have a strong desire to connect with others and they can be intensely empathetic -- they just attempt those connections and express that empathy in unconventional ways. My child with autism, in fact, is the most empathetic and honorable of my three wonderful children.
Additionally, a psychopathic, sociopathic or homicidal tendency must be separated out from both autism and from mental illness more generally. While autistic children can sometimes be aggressive, this is usually because of their frustration at being unable to express themselves verbally, or their extreme sensory sensitivities. Moreover, the form their aggression takes is typically harmful only to themselves. In the very rare cases where their aggression is externally directed, it does not take the form of systematic, meticulously planned, intentional acts of violence against a community.
And if study after study has definitively established that a person with autism is no more likely to be violent or engage in criminal behavior than a neurotypical person, it is just as clear that autistic people are far more likely to be the victims of bullying and emotional and physical abuse by parents and caregivers than other children. So there is a sad irony in making autism the agent or the cause rather than regarding it as the target of violence.
In the wake of coverage like this, I worry, in line with concerns raised by the author Susan Cain in her groundbreaking book on introverts, "Quiet": will shy, socially inhibited students be looked at with increasing suspicion as potentially dangerous? Will a quiet, reserved, thoughtful child be pegged as having antisocial personality disorder? Will children with autism or mental illness be shunned even more than they already are?
This country needs to develop a better understanding of the complexities of various conditions and respect for the profound individuality of its children. We need to emphasize that being introverted doesn't mean one has a developmental disorder, that a developmental disorder is not the same thing as a mental illness, and that most mental illnesses do not increase a person's tendency toward outward-directed violence.
Dr. Barbara Oakley, an engineering professor who writes on psychology (better and in a less doctrinaire way than so many in psychology), has talked to me about how psychological and psychiatric diagnoses that are made are often way too clear-cut. A psychologist or psychiatrist will deem a person to have a particular disorder when they actually seem to have a spectrum of disorders.
I think it's important to remember how inexact psychological and psychiatric diagnoses actually are. They're basically somebody's opinion, based on a list of symptoms in the DSM (the Diagnostic and Statistical manual), which is often as relevant as my diagnoses that I have incurable cancer at 3 a.m. (I try to avoid doing that now!)
The thing is, symptoms that check off in one disorder may also check off in another. But, a psychologist or psychiatrist may have a pet disorder they like to diagnose, and may be prone to find that particular disorder.
I was shocked at how inexact diagnosis for ADHD was. There was no brain scan (none exists to determine it that I know of); a doctor just listened to what I said and prescribed me with Ritalin, which, by the way, didn't quite work for me. Years later, when I got a psychiatrist I felt was solid on science -- my current psychiatrist -- and who I didn't feel had a prejudice against ADHD (like the last one, who doesn't believe it's real, the ass), I trusted him and told him it wasn't really working. He put me on Adderall and changed my writing life from torture to sometimes hard work I love.
UPDATE: Related piece by Rishawn Biddle at DropoutNation.
As far as a science goes psychology is kinda like how astronomy started out as astrology.
Thye've only really been at it for a century or so. Chemistry, math, physics, these sciences have been being studied for over a millienia, and the average lay person is shocked at how directionless psychology seems in comparison.
And that isnt to denigrate the field, they really have made some massive strides in such a short amount of time, but I'm willing to bet 75 yrs from now the meds and therapies we use today will be looked on with as much distian as we currently look at labotomies.
Besides neurotypical people are boring
lujlp at December 19, 2012 9:08 AM
All mass murderers are angry white men. Well that's not true as anyone who remembers "I don't like Mondays" can tell you.
It's the goths. Well, turns out Columbine's killers had nothing to do with goths.
It's Aspergers. Yeah, which is why Silicon Valley is filled with these sorts of shootings.
I even read some stupid article (by Ben Stein maybe?) about how we teach young men it's manly to shoot the unarmed. Huh? I think we teach people it's extremely dishonorable to shoot the unarmed.
But everyone needs a nice neat way to fit this craziness into a box so they can understand it and explain how to fix it.
So in that light of pulling shit out of my ass and claiming this explains the shooting, I'll just point out that all the adult victims were women -- maybe it's time to stop the war on male teachers and male principals.
@lujlp, so there are various branches of psychology and the cognitive psychologists seem to accept the scientific method and seem to conduct some reasonable research, but the therapeautic branch, they are a bunch of woomeisters hawking their own prejudices while claiming to be objective and non-judgmental. Those are the kinds that need a good slap in the face.
jerry at December 19, 2012 9:38 AM
I want to know why Adam's father and older brother hadnt talked to him in over two years.
I want to know why his mother thought leaving him holed up in her basement without hardly any human interaction was acceptable.
I want to know why she wanted him to be committed.
Lastly, I'd really like to have a "conversation" about why those families of the clinically insane (there was more than autism going on here, I suspect schizophrenia will be revealed) and mentally ill have to surmount great obstacles to get their loved ones treatment. What wisdom is there in "government" policy that would allow those with a diminished mental conscious all the freedom in the world while restricting law abiding citizens their constitutional fucking rights as Americans to bear arms.
I'd like that fucking conversation, pretty please.
Clearly, the violent video games, the autism, automatic rifles,
And God aren't the place to start. There is a common denominator to all mass shootings - and it stats on the home and grows from there (includin mental illness').
But that's too fucking uncomfortable for th gun grabbing liberals - because they would actually have to admit their own failures as custodians of decent in tact families and their policies that encourage that misery elsewhere.
Feebie at December 19, 2012 10:10 AM
Another thing that crossed my mind:
If a famous guy drops dead from a coronary, we don't frequently hear people say, "Well, why didn't they stick that balloon catheter up in his heart before? Anybody can see, that's what they shoulda done!" That's because the average layman isn't comfortable playing cardiologist.
But if someone goes on a monstrous rampage, suddenly everybody's Freud, and can explain it all perfectly.
Old RPM Daddy (OldRPMDaddy at GMail dot com) at December 19, 2012 10:43 AM
This is little more than one talking head or another wanting their moment on screen by posting his Clever Theory. The viewing public is ravenous for this story, so any little tidbit that can be presented will be accepted. And the professional expert has bills to pay, and books to sell.
Our daughter, AKA "The Kid" has Aspergers, so this is an issue that hits home for The Wife and I. Of course, I also play videogames, so that facet of the argument affects me as well. And if you're a gun user, that part of the argument is important to you. To the media, they are interchangeable - something to discuss for a segment in between news of the latest funeral, while they wait for the latest graphic package to get approved. All three get discussed by people who may have some knowledge of the things in question, but none have any information on how, if any, they actually affect this tragedy. If someone posited the theory that it was due to the shooter's high-sugar diet, there's a fair to middling chance that Amy or Dr. Eades would be called and asked to speak.
The wife takes this stuff far more personally than I do. Just this Monday, our local station teased a story before the commercial break as "Was the shooter's Aspergers Syndrome responsible for the attack?" Well, The Wife went ballistic for three minutes, ranting and raving about how could they blame it on that, and I just stood waiting patiently. After the commercial break, they ran the story, which said, no, they've determined his diagnosis had no bearing on the incident. As I knew it would. But there will be one or two people who heard "Aspergers" and "shooter" in the same sentence, and when meeting an Aspie in the wild, will puzzlewittedly ask, "Didn't the shooter in Newtown have Aspergers?" To which the proper answer i, "Yes; he also were pants, walked on two legs and had hair, what's your point?"
But once something is mentioned, it has to keep GETTING mentioned, because they've got 24 hourse of news to fill by George. So instead of asking "was this the cause", they start playing hypothetical games, asking "what if this HAD BEEN the cuase?" Nothing is achieved in finding answers for this tragedy; all that happens is the general level of worry and suspicion rises about these topics, the theory being, "Well, if they're talking about it so much, SURELY it's actually a problem".
Bear in mind, they're doing the same thing with guns, video games, violent movies, Homosexuality, and anything else they can use to fill a segment.
NOTHING "made" this guy do this. Not the games he played, not the guns, not his brand of underwear, and not the number of moons Saturn has. To allude to the already mentioned song, the silicon chip inside his head was set to overload. There was no cause; if there was anything, there was a random stimulus that his brain chose to interpret at the go-code from beyond. Any attempt to connect this tragedy to any particular reason (especially if it's one you want to ban) is selfish and vicious to attempt. To suggest that anything remotely connected to the guy needs to be removed or restricted from the millions of people who are unaffected by its use or existence is a simple attempt to take advantage of a tragedy to further your own aims.
Vinnie Bartilucci at December 19, 2012 11:32 AM
Autistics do lack empathy-but not in the way you think. The main definitive symptom of autism is a lack of “theory of mind”. You and I can put ourselves in another person’s shoes and see the world as they see it, even in the minutest ways. As a herd, we also have the ability to understand each other’s implied motivations and humor.
You know that joke where a hot dog wienie is put through a donut hole? An autistic would not get that because the joke is based on what you know the other person is assuming.
If they lack theory of mind, what does that mean in terms of how they think about themselves and others? Well, one of the hallmarks is that autistics have to be taught that not everyone is thinking the same thing they are at the exact same time. That’s why they get so frustrated and angry, in their mind you and I are thinking the exact same thoughts they are. Imagine wanting cereal, being non-verbal and thinking the other persons have the same thoughts you have i.e. they know you want cereal, yet they do not provide it. Can you imagine living in a world like that?
Of course autism is a spectrum disorder and some have an almost intact but faulty theory of mind. It’s why socialization is so difficult. How can you socialize if you do not understand what other people are implying, thinking, planning, wanting?
On the flip side psychopaths have an excellent theory of mind, understand what other people are thinking, don’t care, and will use that skill to manipulate others.
Purplepen at December 19, 2012 12:32 PM
Feebs, according to a couple of reporters who had spoken with Mr. Lanza, Adam cut contact with his father right before the father remarried. He didn't want to see his dad with another woman, I'm guessing. His brother had moved to NJ to pursue a career, so there was limited contact there. Adam's mother was a vicacious outgoing woman, but very protective and closed-mouth about her home life, including Adam. He was a subject that was pretty much off limits to her friends, by most accounts.
Flynne at December 19, 2012 1:22 PM
Thanks, Flynne.
Feebie at December 19, 2012 1:26 PM
No prob, sweetie. It's been all over the local papers and what not. We're not far from Newtown; BF hunts up there at a friend's place.
It's been hellacious what with all the media and traffic and shit. The local news have been pretty good about giving the families their privacy, but the national news media? They're everyfreakinwhere. But I thought it was really cool of Victor Cruz (Giant's wide receiver) to put one of the kid's name on his cleats for Sunday's game, and he went and visited with the boy's family yesterday, for about an hour.
(PS - How you feelin'? You're due pretty soon, no?)
Flynne at December 19, 2012 1:33 PM
Megan had a wonderful tweet about Asperger's today.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at December 19, 2012 3:53 PM
April. Im five foot nuthin' and there is no where (it seems ) for this baby to go. Got my first "look the waddling has already started" comment today.
I am pretty sure that was a right of passage I now get to mark off my list.....
Literally, I'm almost six months and I am already having a tough time bending over...my doc says I've gained exactly what I needed to have at this point. Omg, it's gonna be a long winter!
:-). Thanks again fer the info.
Feebie at December 19, 2012 3:56 PM
As I said earlier today, "Aspies don't kill people, nutjobs with guns and mental health issues kill people!" Thank you for helping to set the record straight, Amy!
DorianTB at December 19, 2012 5:01 PM
http://www.madinpursuit.com/pakistan/paki_13b.htm
Men and boys sat on the floors of these workshops (not a table or chair in sight) making guns from scratch. Their special skill was in taking an assembly-line-produced weapon (Smith & Wesson, Lee-Enfield, Kalashnikov) and reverse engineering it so that they could reproduce it by hand. They used primitive lathes, mud furnaces, anvils, hammers, bow drills and other modest hand-tools. Gun manufacture has little tolerance for error and Pashtuns have little tolerance for exploding weapons, so the Darra craftsmen are experts (even down to reproducing meaningless serial numbers and trademarks).
OTOH, I guess the counter is we drove all the craft jobs out of the country, so our public-educated kids would never figure out what a bunch of illiterate tribemen could.
Score one for the schools?
Unix-Jedi at December 20, 2012 9:01 AM
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