Experts: No Link Between Asperger's and Violence. Washington Post Reporter Clouds the Issues

"Reporter" Michael Rosenwald of the Washington Post attempts once again to link Asperger's and violence, and fails rather spectacularly.

Why Do We Know So Little About Adam Lanza? Because He Lived in the Cloud

I commented on the Washington Post site:

“Police have yet to give a full report on Lanza and the shootings,” but you can’t wait for facts. 

 No, you are perfectly willing to continue to malign people with Asperger’s syndrome and autism, drawing on stereotypes of us as “loners” who would rather communicate online than in-person. And then you make the vast and rather awkward leap from communication disabilities to mass murder. Because someone spends time online, even a lot of time online, like I do, does not mean we do not understand the human soul. Actually, a lot of the time I spend online is in countering the damage that speculative articles like this one cause to my community, the Autistic community. [Rosenwald writes "In Lanza’s case, though the hard drive and the human soul seemingly became intertwined, the difference was apparent after their deaths. A hard drive is replaceable. A human being is not."]

"No, the hard drive and the human soul do not actually (or “seemingly”) become intertwined. This is the stuff of fiction, not of competent reporting. Yes, I know it is an opinion piece and therefore not confined by such limitations as accuracy or responsibility toward people who have disabilities (who have “human souls” just as the rest of humanity does) Continued targeting of us by you and other reporters will cause us untold damage as we try to live our lives, get jobs and heathcare, go to school, and go about our lives.

Here is my interview with the Washington Post after the shootings. You will see a quite different view of Asperger’s than the thoughtless stereotypes trotted out here:

Media Coverage Creates Dangerous Stereotypes of People with Autism

There are so many things wrong with Rosenwald's op-ed that it verges on silliness. Unfortunately, we have to take it seriously because the ongoing bashing of Autistics is going to have a real effect, not only on Autistic adults but future generations of Autistic children, who may grow up in an environment that is harsher due to fears of us growing out of inept "reports" such as this. 

Rosenwald interviewed one Jason Nolan via email (which is a common-enough way of interviewing people these days, not just those of us with Asperger's). Nolan wrote "Given his love of computers and digital technologies such as video games,” Nolan wrote, “Adam Lanza’s decision to destroy his hard drive may simply have been his first act of self-annihilation, especially if he regarded his computer as an extension of himself and his identity."
Nolan joins in on the speculation about Lanza's sources of identity, even though when he writes about himself as an Autistic person, he merely says "Social technologies can be a lifeline for anyone who is unable to find the support they need in their face-to-face community.” That statement makes sense; the one about self-annihilation and a hard drive as an extension of oneself is psychobabble. None of the Autistic people I know, including myself, confuses ourselves with our hard drives or any other computer component. 

For many Autistic people, as well as for many non-autistic, presumably "normal" people, going online is a way to make friends, not to plot murders. Personally, I have made lifelong friends via online contacts, many of whom I now enjoy in-person contact, which Rosenwald privileges as "more important" and somehow as a counter to murderous impulses. Although computers have been with us for only a few decades, humanity itself has been prone to murder since time immemorial. One thing that is different in current times, and which I am not going to address in this post, is easy access in the U.S. to multi-round, fast-operating guns. Computers don't cause murder; guns do.

I'll have to write to the WP ombudsman and others about the slander of Autistic people, and will report any communications with them here. 

Links to my other writings about the Sandy Hook Elementary murders here, with links to numerous writings by other people on the same topic:

Mother with Asperger Syndrome Grieves Sandy Hook Shootings

http://paulacdurbinwestbyautisticblog.blogspot.com/2012/12/webmd-oped-aspergers-and-violence.html

In addition, look at the page on my blog that links to the many good resources that counter, both directly and indirectly, the misinformation that has been promoted about autism since the shootings occurred: This Is Asperger's. This Is Autism