I’m concerned regarding a recent trend for media reporting that the perpetrators of some of these horrific & high profile crimes; are actually Autistic ( examples: James Holmes/Aurora theatre shooting & Adam Lanza/Connecticut school shooting).
With so much PC going on with not using phrases like “black perpetrator” or “female victim”; I’m surprised that they don’t get called out on this.
I’m afraid that their lack of knowledge could lead to public opinion being that of seeing Autistic people as the next “Boogey Man” & its going to lead to furthering the isolation & alienation of those who are the least likely to self-advocate.
It’s an understandable mistake, even for those who specialize in Neuropsychiatry, because so many psychiatric diagnosis’s share affective features of social impairment with Autism diagnosis. In the case of Jeffery Dahmer, a research study authored by a JA Silva, stated that it had been
suggested that Dahmer had Asperger’s due to his fathers statements of him being socially awkward, with poor eye contact, etc. but that there were too many contraindications & comorbidities to actually assign that diagnosis to him.
Dahmer’s official but retrospective diagnosis ( due to being killed in prison) was : “ Personality Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, With Schizoid, Antisocial & Schizotypal Traits”.
Jeffrey Dahmer: His Complicated, Comorbid Psychopathologies and Treatment Implications | Strubel | The New School Psychology Bulletin
Another frequent assumption is of Autism as Schizophrenia, also due to atypical social interactions. What is interesting is that new research has found that while Autism & Schizophrenia share abnormalities in the same area of the brain; the causative features are actually the complete opposite: Its called “Synaptic Pruning” & Autistic brains don’t do enough of it, while Schizophrenic brains, do too much of it.
https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/...naptic-pruning
What is truly concerning, is that this Synaptic process/lack there of is now being suspected in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s as well as Autism & Schizophrenia. What is causing this?
“All of this raises intriguing questions. Is it possible that many common brain disorders, despite their wide-ranging symptoms, are caused or at least worsened by the same culprit, a component of the immune system?”
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/6...eck-the-brain/
A damaged immune system ... Someone ought to get to work on that ...
Meanwhile; are you in imminent danger from a truly Autistic person?
The answer is likely to be similar to that of being in danger from any other person; in the event that other person has been “triggered” into aggression.
Most neurotypical people
canbe triggered ... Try shoving yourself into a checkout line in a crowded store ahead of people who have been waiting. Or treating an animal with cruelty, or carelessly endangering somebody on the road. Those are understandable triggers that would inspire an understandable reaction. An Autistic person’s triggers are likely to be very
un-understandable.
My 13 year old Autistic son is six foot tall & almost 200lbs. One of his harder to manage triggers is ... Whistling. The sound of whistling is literally painful to his hyper-sensory ears. And he lacked the verbal skills to communicate that much to me until about 1 year ago.
When I think of all those years of major meltdowns in grocery stores that happened “for no reason” ( in my eyes) ... The bad thing now is, that now that he recognizes what it is? He recognizes there is a “who” it is.
My job, is to have him in arms reach or in hand at all times. To remind him “We don’t control other people”. To divert... about face or exit stage left at a moments (or whistles) notice to avoid the sound & physically restrain or simply put myself in between, the “whistler” & him.
Have I incurred physical injury due to this? Yes. Has any innocent person who just likes to whistle? No.
Is this in any way similar to Dahmer-like capacity for violence? Hardly. Although, it’s not unlikely that those with that capacity will share similar traits. Or possibly, a potentially similar cause; of a damaged brain.
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