Autism: The Target
Filed Under (Activism, Autism and The Media, Discrimination, Ethics, Media) by Estee on 17-12-2012
I have to tell you that I predicted the autism label would be used to describe the perpetrator Adam Lanza and the horrific shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Before I proceed, let me please contribute my heart-felt condolences to everyone who has suffered by this, and who have lost their dear loved ones.
As I read through my Facebook page this evening, autistic people are frightened for themselves. When I hear of a crime like this, I hold my breath just waiting for someone to spill out the A-word. When I go to the doctor now, he says that when my son will become an adolescent he will become violent. A doctor?! This, my dear readers, is the level of ignorance most families experience. When we conflate violence with a type of person (race or gender) or disability is not only unethical – it’s dangerous to the welfare of autistic people.
We must work to differentiate “mental illness” with Aspergers or autism. Even that term is riddled with blame and stigma. I guess I have to say here that any person is capable of violence. You can be neurotypical and be violent. You can be anything or anyone and be violent. Violence is not a blanket trait of autism.
Our human history is laden with the criminalization and demonization of people with disabilities. When society fears something – be it environmental changes, our fears of what a fast-paced technological society is doing to humanity or now this (the increase of violence as characterizing the perpetrator as “isolated”) – we point the finger at autistic people. Autism is a human construction. It is a label made by people and its definitions keep changing over time. I will soon put a couple of essays here on this blog to show how autism as a construction has evolved in the twentieth century, and how we have had autistic people in our history (other authors have also written much more about this).
From the blog Left Brain/Right Brain, I copied this comment from the CBS story illustrating the prejudice that abounds. I urge you to read this blog post for more information on how autistic people are being stereotyped and targeted:
“most people with Asperger’s can function normally in society”, this is a false statement! They cannot function normally! That is why they give the condition a name, as to differentiate them from the “normal” and accepted social behavioral. We have a large and growing population of people with these behavioral conditions that will hinder our public and social progress. I am afraid that we will continue to see these types of violent episodes, these conditions prevent the individual from using “reflective thought”, actions are sudden and instinctual, almost animal like. If you would like know more, go read a BOOK! don’t look it up on the internet, think for your self!
Again, please go to that blog and help to stand up against unethical reporting and mischaracterization of autistic people as violent people (CNN had been reporting that Lanza had Aspergers and then retracted it). I have many autistic friends and a loving child with the autism label. There are many more issues to discuss regarding gun control, the role of the media. Autistic people seem to be the moving target for everything. Please, let’s stop the shooting.
ESTÉE KLAR
I hope one day mental illness, autism or any disability is no longer blamed for acts of violence.
Simply well put.
The U.S. health system does not aid in helping those with mental health challenges.
I agree that the media are callous when it comes to reports involving mental health. They know nothing, research little and spew false truths. the saddest is, the retractions aren’t enough. In this era of electronic communication and instant gratification, uncontrollable amounts of damage are done with the press of a key. And getting people to “un-believe” what they just read is nearly impossible. Thank goodness we advocates exist (but are we enough?)
Could you please explain why autism and Asperger’s need to be differentiated from mental illness?
My understanding is that all three “conditions” are caused by brains that work differently than the imaginary “normal” brain.
Additionally, there have been many authors and researchers who have described how mental illnesses are social constructions.
I, too, knew anddreaded the fact that very quickly the shooter would be labeled as autistic and/or mentally ill.
I ask this question because when others have said similar things to me in the past, I perceived that they were trying to separate autistic people from the stigma surrounding mental illness. It makes me feel uncomfortable. It reminds me of phrases like “Well, at least I’m not stupid” from people with mental illnesses and “Well, at least I’m not crazy” from people with developmental disabilities.
I agree with you that the tragic incident that occured at the American elementary school needs to be addressed from a wide variety of points. To quote Obama or a news commentator (I can’t remember – sorry) “It should be at least as easy to obtain mental health services as it is to obtain a gun.” I have never tried to purchase a gun but I suspect it is easier to obtain in Canada also than mental health services are.
I for one, would have been thrilled if many years ago I had been thrown a crumb of hope that most people with schizophrenia can function normally in society. Being told by the medical profession that these conditions are hopeless stops many people from believing that there is anything they can do to change what looks like a bleak future. But, I’ve moved on, and decided that schizophrenia was an invitation to a wonderful journey with my son. I object to the way schizophrenia is targetted by the media as almost a given with the kinds of tragedies we have witnessed in Newtown. I am actually concerned to learn that CNN retracted its reporting that Adam Lanza had Aspergers. The reason is because I am noticing opinion pieces popping up here and there that insinuate that Lanza actually had schizophrenia. (It didn’t look like it to me.) The Paul Steinberg Op-Ed in the influential New York Times may have kickstarted this. His propaganda piece demonstates the big lie, worthy of Joseph Goebbels. He begins by talking about schizophrenia in general terms, then segues to Adam Lanza, and pronounces him “schizophrenic” even though this is highly unethical for a psychiatrist to publically speculate on someone he hasn’t seen. I see what he is trying to do, though. He is banging the drum for forced treatment of people with “severe mental illness” (read schizophrenia and bipolar) and he can’t do that if the public believes that Lanza was somewhere on the autism spectrum, since the autism community doesn’t lobby for forced treatment. The public already thinks people with a schizophrenia diagnosis are violent (statistically they are anything but). For once I was actually pleased to hear reports that the perpetrator didn’t have schizophrenia because reported autism will make the public reconsider the components of what makes someone violent, whereas the public in its ignorance believes that a schizophrenia diagnosis explains everything. I will be curious to see over the coming months if suddenly Lanza has been changed into a “schizophrenic.”
Best regards,
Rossa
Great point, Rossa. I agree with you. We have much work to do to educate and de-stigmatize mental “health.” That term in and of itself leads to more questions.