Asperger's and Sandy Hook

I am writing in this blog for the first time in six months.  This is brought about by the incident in Newtown, CT, where a single person took it upon himself to try and destroy a whole school of children for some unknown reason.  I first heard about it while teaching a class of my own.  I am a math teacher and learning specialist in Hartford at a private school and work with kids from grade 6-12, some of which have learning disabilities.  My son is 7 - he is the same age as some of the victims...I had trouble understanding why someone would do something like this, especially to students in a school.

Later that night, I was at my faculty's holiday party, my supervisor turned to me and said, "Did you hear the reports that the shooter had Asperger's?" (I've told her about my diagnosis - I feel THAT comfortable at this school!) "I'm afraid that this is going to really hurt our students on the spectrum if that is true.  Even just REPORTING it is enough to make them question themselves!"  I told her that I hadn't heard that report yet, but that I'd look into it.

When I got home, I saw in my e-mail a link to a statement from GRASP (The Global and Regional Asperger Syndrome Partnership) head, Michael John Carley.  I also read a statement from the AANE (Asperger's Association of New England) and an article by John Elder Robison in Psychology Today.  All of these Asperger's support groups and well-known individuals with Asperger's essentially said the same thing: saying that the shooter, Adam Lanza, had Asperger's Syndrome or Autism makes people look at EVERYONE on the spectrum as having the POTENTIAL of being a mass murderer. I have sent her and the school counselor links to these articles, and others like them.

As an individual with Asperger's Syndrome, I can tell you that my difficulty is NOT with violence, being unable to tell right from wrong, or having no feelings for others.  I have difficulty COMMUNICATING those feelings to others in ways that they might understand.  I care deeply about those close to me, I hurt when they hurt (and often hurt even when they feel better), I melt down sometimes when things get overwhelming, but I usually end up shutting down, not getting violent.  I could NEVER take a life.

I have also been diagnosed with depression, but that doesn't make me a bad person either.  I was been diagnosed with migraines at age seven, but have never killed anyone because of them.  As John Elder Robison pointed out, most school killers are Caucasian males.  Does that mean that because I am a Caucasian male that I will be a school killer?  NO!  Lanza is an Italian name - so what does that mean about males of Italian descent?

We cannot judge this event based on Adam Lanza's diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome, Autism, or anything else, without looking at a lot of other factors as well.  Did he have a history of violence?  Was he bullied as a kid?  Was he REALLY diagnosed with Asperger's, or was it just something his brother Ryan said (I heard a report this morning which stated, "...his brother Ryan told police that he had a mental illness, like Asperger's or Autism...")?  We may never know why he did it, even if we know everything about him.

We need, in this country, a stronger emphasis on those with psychological, personality and neurological disorders (Asperger's being one of the latter, NOT a mental illness, but a disorder in the nerve makeup of the brain).  By being able to diagnose these disorders sooner in life, we would be able to help those with them learn how to cope with their differences.  This might (or might not, but I think it would work) reduce the number of "mentally ill" people in the country who would be likely to commit acts like this.

Also, the APA needs to back off it's desire to eliminate the Asperger's diagnosis, among others.  People like me, who are able to receive support for our differences under the DSM-IV-R will, in many cases of higher functioning individuals, be classified as "normal" under the DSM-5.  Will these new criteria help or hurt in the diagnosis and treatment of those with disorders?  Would the DSM-5 have identified Adam Lanza before he committed this heinous crime?  If not, then they need to go back to the drawing board.

So, if you are someone reading this who is not on the spectrum, take the news reports on Adam Lanza and his Asperger's with a grain of salt.  He may have been an individual on the Autism Spectrum, but that was NOT the reason he did this.  There was some other reason, something outside of the Spectrum diagnosis, maybe something he went through BECAUSE of his diagnosis (bullying, teasing, etc.).  And, even if he did HAVE Asperger's Syndrome, his violence puts him in the minority of Aspies who become violent.  Just like his being a Caucasian male of Italian descent did not make him commit this crime.  And, above all else, allow those with Asperger's Syndrome the benefit of the doubt.  Most of them are the nicest, most interesting people that you'll ever meet, and they'd rarely hurt a fly!