Newtown, Connecticut and Autism

On the shooting of 6 adults and 20 children in Newtown, Connecticut:

"I think it's dangerous to say that Aspergers is what caused Adam Lanza to do what he did. Having worked extensively with children who have Aspergers, I firmly believe that blaming the developmental disability is knocking on the door of discrimination and I do not want to see my kiddos with "Aspie" be shunned even worse than they already are. 

What I do believe happened in the Newtown tragedy is a horrible cocktail, created by a number of factors: People who have Aspergers do have major problems understanding social relationships. That goes from how to have a simple conversation, all the way to conflict resolution. They can be taught how to interact appropriately, and parents and teachers across the globe dedicate their lives to this daily. Just like any other kid, they have to be taught things they don't know. So, do I think Aspergers may have caused this tragedy? No. But could his lack of understanding of social relationships and how to resolve conflict appropriately have been a factor in this? Yes, I do. But before pointing the finger again fully on Aspergers, consider that his mother/and teachers in his life may have taught him the wrong social rules. She/they could have done so even inadvertently, without realizing that is what they were doing. Now consider the other ingredients in the cocktail: He had access to weapons and was taught how to use them, he was allowed to and played many, many violent video games (again, with his aspergers, if he isn't getting social learning somewhere, he will pick it up here). They teach him one way to resolve conflict. He wouldn't necessarily be able to tell that that way is not good, unless he had been taught that. Lastly, something triggered him. Got him upset and he pulled from the resources he had, to resolve it.

I believe it took a mixture of factors to cause what happened on Friday. So, please don't just blame Aspergers for this. There are many children out there, who have Aspergers, who don't deserve the stigma that this is creating for them."

I found this from a guy on Facebook. The comment was originally from his wife. In addition to this, I would have to say that at the root of all evil is not some disease. At the root of death and destruction we cannot blame fire, guns, or anything else. We have nothing to blame but ourselves. We are at our core, sinners. So no weapon or "disease" can be blamed for what happened at that school that day...or at the Batman movie showing earlier this year. Or at any shooting or killing or anything. It was a sinner at fault...it was the sin nature coming out. 

Which brings to me to one of my biggest peeves. He wasn't retarded or specially handicapped. I have babysat this young boy for over 3 years now. He is like my own little brother or child. At the end of this month he's going to be 5. Over the course of the time that I've watched him he was diagnosed with autism. At first, it was incredibly hard to believe, but as time went on it was harder and harder to ignore it. At first, I was so scared. I hadn't ever really been faced with a "special needs" person...especially a child. I worried, maybe I'm not going to be all that he needs? He had a seizure which was what had tipped the doctors off to his "condition". 

What if he had a seizure while I watched him? Since that time I've done a bit of research...studied up what to do with seizures and come face to face with the realization that autism isn't that scary. It can be a big deal...it comes in shades...sometimes it's darker and sometimes it is lighter. Some people get better shades of it while others get worse. What autism really is: a "disconnection" of sorts between the two sides of the brain...making it very difficult to properly communicate well. While one side of the brain goes "undeveloped" the other side flourishes all the more. So while he can't always communicate exactly what is going on in his brain, that's not to say that there isn't anything happening up there.

So our job - as so-called "normal" people - is to learn to speak their language. Find out what they mean when they say or do this or that. It can seem like a new language...but it's only because we automatically assume that our language is the first and best one out there. I've seen him work and play...the way that I can see his mind work? It's incredible. He is so intelligent. Sometimes I think he's wiser and smarter then I am. The way he sees patterns, shapes, and other things it's truly remarkable. I wish there was someway to combine their amazing intellect with a good way to communicate like we usually do. Those are the geniuses. I would say those with autism are geniuses...now if only they could speak and share their knowledge with us. 

In closing, I would strongly oppose those who would blame this form of autism on why the shooting happened. That's not why it happened. Their agenda behind all this is not only to gain control of the guns, but to show us how "retarded" these other "infected" people are. I'm using plenty of quotations because that's what they would say...and I would take them down for it. These are highly intelligent people...those who have studied these conditions have all agreed on that...they are not slow, retarded, or stupid...and definitely not dangerous. They can be very misunderstood...and how would you feel if you were misunderstood day after day and treated as if you were stupid?

These are people. And when we mistreat them we mistreat life...just like as if we were the one with the gun in our hand. We do it everyday with abortion. And now we want to push euthanasia as well? The killing off of those who are not "normal"? "Healthy"? "Intelligent"? Now we must ask ourselves who will set that standard? And will that standard be Christian? Is it right to take anyone's life if done unjustly? Is it right to kill someone off because they don't fit in to what we consider normal? 

God doesn't think so. And neither should we.