By Guest Blogger Scott Badesch, Autism Society President
Our hearts are broken for the community of Newtown, Connecticut, where 26 innocent people, including young children, were killed during a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School last December. What happened that day is an unimaginable tragedy difficult for all of us to digest, and we join the nation in mourning these terrible events.
When tragedies happen by the hand of one individual, those of us in the autism community tend to have a somewhat shared response: we fearfully anticipate speculations that the aggressor had an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Making autism a part of these stories threatens to stigmatize the nearly 2 million people with ASD in the United States alone.
Autism is likely never the cause of premeditated violence. A 2012 study found there to be no more prevalence of premeditated violence in the autism population than in the general population. The exception, the study noted, was that co-morbidities, separate conditions occurring along with the autism, may increase the risk of violence.
In 2008, a study looked at cases in which an individual with Asperger’s Syndrome committed an offending behavior. The researchers found that in the majority of cases the offender had a coexisting psychiatric disorder.
Studies also show that individuals with autism are more likely to be the victims of crime than the perpetrators. It’s also suggested that injurious behavior in individuals with autism is often in response to threat or frustration from the environment.
Not only do these studies quickly dispel a link between autism and planned violence, they also highlight a nationwide crisis – the fact that people with ASD often have little access to help. While continuing to mourn the tragic events at Sandy Hook, the Autism Society would like to turn the conversation from blame and speculation, to appropriate diagnosis, supports and services for people with ASD.
Research shows that early intervention for children with ASD drastically improves outcomes. But individuals and their families continue to lack access to early intervention and other services they need, due to a variety of factors, including affordability, availability and location of these services. Ask any parent seeking help for a son or daughter, and you will hear about the difficulty of getting services and support.
But lack of early intervention access isn’t the only problem that needs attention. Children with special needs grow up, and they need appropriate educational programs that nurture their transition to independence in adulthood.
The solution to fixing a broken mental health system does not fall on the government alone, nor can the government bear the blame for our current problems. A true solution falls on society – religious and human service leaders, elected officials, educators and families living with individuals with special needs.
The Autism Society stands ready to help, and we are asking for your assistance as well. This is my call to action to all of you: please share information, including the facts about autism (which you can always find on our website, www.autism-society.org), with your family and friends, local schools and online networks. Direct those in need to AutismSource™– the Autism Society’s online resource directory that offers a nationwide listing of autism-related services and supports. You can also get involved with local programs that help families and individuals living with ASD. We hope you will join us in our fight, so that everyone living with ASD has a chance to live a meaningful life.
The father of a young adult with autism, Scott Badesch was appointed as the President of the Autism Society in July 2011. Mr. Badesch joined the Autism Society’s national office in 2010 as Senior Vice President of Development and Operations. Previously, Badesch served as President and CEO of the Autism Society of North Carolina. He has more than 30 years of experience working with nonprofit organizations, particularly in fundraising, chapter outreach, advocacy and public policy and transformation of organizations.
My 19 year old grandson lives with me and he was so upset when the first statement was made about aspergers maybe being a cause. He was afraid to go to his work program at school. I spoke to him and reassured him that it would not happen. Then the first doctor came on a TV program stating they are the opposite in temperment. I know, I live it each day. It is sometimes so difficult for him. His father (my ex son-in-law) never, to this day, accepts the fact that his SON is not perfect and pushed him so hard, then remarried a horrible woman that verbally abused him to the point that he tried suicide. Luckily, he did not succeed. His mom, my daughter, cannot deal with it. She tries, but has many of her own issues. She is getting help, too. I have my days that I do not understand him. He is sweet, smart, trying at times, but so loving. He has a wonderful friend now, who has asbergers, OCD and Torette’s. Now, how much can one child cope with? He is the most wonderful young man. I call him the gentle giant, he is 6 ft 5 ins and has size 18 shoes. He and my grandson are just wonderful together. They need each other and understand each other. Thanks for your article. I need to join a group that will help me to accept some of the things I do not understand.
Hi Diane,
Thank you for sharing your story! You may wish to reach out to the Autism Society chapter in your state for information on support groups and other resources in your area. You can find a list of Autism Society chapters by visiting http://209.200.89.252/search_site/chapter_map.cfm.
Best,
The Disability.Blog Team
I’m a mother of a teen w/Autism. I live in the El Monte, CA area. I have been thinking for a while now how I can help children like my son specifically, preventing them from harm from police. As you all know there are many of our children who simply may not be able to answer “What is your date of birth?” which when dealing with police can often be taken as he is acting like a smart ass (excuse my wording!) ultimately leading to the officer becoming angry and possibly leading to getting physical or even an arrest. Basically, what I would love to achieve is a “special needs registry” in my city. What this is is a registry with the local police dept. so that when your child’s name and or address comes up during an emergency call, the responding officer will be aware the person he is about to deal with has a disability and may need to be approached differently. I need some ideas and suggestions. I would love to present this to my local city council during their March 26 scheduled meeting. Any suggestions would be helpful and most of all appreciated. Thank you.
Well said, Scott. We aspies are much more likely to take our own lives than those of others. Unfortunately, no one notices when we only destroy ourselves. I remember well what I was like when I was the age of the Connecticut shooter, trapped somewhere in that limbo between an unhappy adolescence and an adulthood that I wished for but could not attain. A lifetime of bullying, rejection and social isolation had left its scars. Yes, I was angry, the way a wounded animal is angry. Yes, I was bitter, from years of being relegated to watching life with my nose pressed to the windowpane. Did I have fantasies of revenge? Yes, occasionally, I did. Would I have ever done what Adam Lanza did? No, of course not. However, what I did do, is what aspies often do, sink my fangs into my own heart scorpion-like, and give myself up to a slow suicide of despair and desolation. What is the solution? There had to be a better support system for young adults–and older adults–on the spectrum, somewhere where we can feel that we are not alone, where we can share our pain, and learn to channel our pain and our sorrows into a flourishing productive life rather than bury it inside and let it eat up our hearts, or, even worse, express that pain in a way that is both morally wrong and brings shame on the whole autistic community.
This information needs to be given to the media. There was an incident a few years ago in Lincoln, MA involving a student and violence and the media linked the incident to the fact that the student has ASD.
http://www.hlntv.com/video/2012/09/27/caught-tape-autistic-man-allegedly-abused-caregivers
There is never an excuse to abuse vulnerable people.
Well said, Scott. To equate Aspergers Syndrome with murder is the same as equating a particular race or religion with being murderers. As the mother of 2 adult children with Aspergers, I feel it is an injustice to lump all of one type of people together. The other day, I was at a town forum where someone in the audience spoke and pointed the finger at all people with Aspergers. What a shame. She probably didn’t know that she included Bill Gates when making that type of general statement.
Nice post. I like the way you start and concluded your thoughts. Thanks for this nice information. I really appreciate your work, keep it up.
It is so very hard to accept the fact that an alcoholism or drug addiction are accepted illness, as both are induced by the person themselves. Though if you have mental illness of any sort, it is not really accepted in this society or understood. I have to believe that alcoholics and drug addicts have been involved in more deaths than people with mental illness. I really have a hard time accepting alcoholism and illegal drug usage as a disease. If you would call them a type of mental illness, I can accept that.
It is sad all around. As an adult who was molested and abused as a child, and as grown up a person with multiple issues, both mentally and physically, I see how it could happen and the fact that it doesn’t happen all the time is a statement to the fact that with all of the problems and issues that we face, more of us choose to not be like our abusers and turn away from violence. I am not sure that you could say that about those who are in the so called “normal” spectrum speaking statistically. There might be someone who could put those statistics together but I think that would only prove me right. But it does not help this sad, sad situation. All we can do is support each other, be kind to all we encounter, and keep from wanting to make extreme decisions based upon our anger and grief. Love is what heals, not hate, paranoia, or fear. Love. It is the greatest of all emotions. It is the one thing that has kept me alive for the last almost 20 years. Nothing else would have made the pain of my illnesses and issues worth fighting.
Thank you for you your comment, Kimberly. It reminds me of a quote by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
I am glad to read this document. Those of us who survived the Viet Nam combat experience, in the early years after leaving but have been diagnosed with PTSD, would always cringe when a combat veteran committed a felony that was reported by the “news”. At the end of the story they would add, “He is also a Viet Nam veteran”. It is easier to use a very wide brush to portray all of us as “mad dog killers”. It requires some digging to find the WHOLE truth. Today’s reporters are too lazy to find the truth. We stand with you.