Autism ‘not associated with brutality’

For the New York Times, Andrew Solomon debunks the “Myth of the ‘Autistic Shooter.’” Because it happened again; only a few days into coverage of an act of domestic terrorism — the killing of nine people and injuring of several others at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon — a news outlet drew attention to posts attributed to the killer’s mother in which she claimed that “I have Asperger’s” and “I also have an Asperger’s kid.”

So at precisely the time when concern ought to be focused upon families devastated by the shootings, people like me must confront the “causality and scapegoating” that Solomon describes.

So for the record, again, this time as stated by Solomon: “Whatever anyone’s particular constellation of symptoms may be, however, autism is not associated with brutality. Failing to intuit certain aspects of other people’s inner experience does not equate to disdain for human life.” As an autist, I am part of a population “far more likely to be attacked than to attack, far less likely to receive justice when injured, and far more likely to be misunderstood.”