CNN reporting Cho was diagnosed with Autism

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Apatura
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19 Apr 2007, 1:18 pm

IF he really was autistic (and I guess with the language delay it would be HFA, not Asperger's), and his family was obsessed with their kids getting into good schools and doing well in life, the pressure on him to act NT and to not be himself or accept himself must have been huge.



TheMachine1
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19 Apr 2007, 1:25 pm

Apatura wrote:
IF he really was autistic (and I guess with the language delay it would be HFA, not Asperger's), and his family was obsessed with their kids getting into good schools and doing well in life, the pressure on him to act NT and to not be himself or accept himself must have been huge.


I'm not sure I heard he had delay language. Maybe just select mutism. If there is such a
distinction.



shadexiii
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19 Apr 2007, 1:28 pm

Don't just say it here, tell CNN directly.

In my e-mail to CNN I wrote:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/19/vtech. ... index.html

In one of your pieces on the shooter at Virginia Tech, a point was made to state that he had been diagnosed with Autism. While I'm sure everyone questions his mental health at this point, you have discussed it in a reckless and thoughtless manner. His diagnosis was marked with a bullet at the top of the story, and his relative was quoted as saying he was very cold. This suggests to your readers that anyone with any degree of autism is a potential danger to society. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

I find this offensive, and potentially dangerous. A common desire of some individuals after this kind of tragedy is revenge. In the way your article was worded, you just gave such people a target. At the very least, you should consider changing your wording so it isn't quite so inflammatory.



Apatura
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19 Apr 2007, 3:41 pm

TheMachine1 wrote:
Apatura wrote:
IF he really was autistic (and I guess with the language delay it would be HFA, not Asperger's), and his family was obsessed with their kids getting into good schools and doing well in life, the pressure on him to act NT and to not be himself or accept himself must have been huge.


I'm not sure I heard he had delay language. Maybe just select mutism. If there is such a
distinction.


In one of the stories about him, it said that he was so late in talking that his parents worried he might be mute.



Prof_Pretorius
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19 Apr 2007, 4:08 pm

shadexiii, good for you ! ! I can't remember a time the media has acted so reprehensively as they are right now. The constant airing of opinion, and hearsay, and guesses is just disgusting. They're throwing every thing they find on the air, this so called DX has yet to be validated at all. It's his Auntie's memory ! ! Excuse me ?? What if she's just upset, and confusing terminology?? Absolutely pathetic ! !


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19 Apr 2007, 4:16 pm

THEY REMOVED THE MENTION OF AUTISM FROM THE ARTICLE!! !! !



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19 Apr 2007, 4:27 pm

Well in a way it's good if he or others like him are pegged as autistic. The whole bullying/ridicule thing that aspies attract has to be recognised and dealt with. I never had a job where I wasn't bullied, people laughed at my voice (and my ideas) at uni. it's just that this isn't a gun bearing country, so it's most likely to be the US where this issue is going to become big.



Tensho
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19 Apr 2007, 4:45 pm

I dont talk anymore because of being teased about my voice. I dont think it was anything to do with autism but it could be. Being forced to read out to the class at school was the worst thing ever and I can imagine the stress he went through because of it. Its being in classes and knowing that at any moment you could be asked to read out loud so you fear every second of every lesson. I eventually gave up and would never turn up for English and Geography because they was the ones I was most likely to have to speak.

This was at secondary school up to the age of 16 in my country and skiving lessons was an easy solution. But Cho Seung-Hui was at University where the pressure would be so much higher with no option of skiving because he lived on the campus so I am not surprised that he would give up too but his only option was to give up on life. If they are going to make me die then I am going to be sure to take them with me.



shadexiii
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19 Apr 2007, 4:54 pm

kittenfluffies wrote:
THEY REMOVED THE MENTION OF AUTISM FROM THE ARTICLE!! !! !


I pwn CNN. FTW. CNN gtfo my internets. ^_^



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19 Apr 2007, 6:28 pm

It's funny, how each time something like this happens, the media and the so-called experts are all over what was wrong with the poor kid involved. All very well and good. But how come no one ever questions how wrong it is that ever since the need for school was conceived, no one has ever questioned the great wrong that is done by allowing any kind of cruelty in the classroom? Why is it okay for one type of person to find others who are similar, and then gang up on someone else, because they are "different?" Until this is addressed, I'm afraid this will continue to happen. Case in point. I don't remember what year it was, but a similar shooting had been making headlines. About six or seven years ago. My college age Aspie daughter, a loner, was into dressing oddly, at least according to others in her dorm. Because she favored a look that reminded some of the shooter, she was constantly harassed, requested to report to the Dean, and counselor's offices. She was perceived as a potential threat. And of course, the ancient litany was recited, as if well rehearsed. "Well, you don't participate with others, you keep to yourself, etc." Needless to say, she quit college.


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19 Apr 2007, 6:28 pm

Man... Well, I felt he had several Aspie traits, and I knew I could identify with him, if I wasn't bound by my Christian belief in love and respect for all, but maybe he was schizophrenic, as Dr Manny on Fox reports he may have been. I just know I recently emailed my exwife to ask her whether she thought I was bipolar. She wrote back: "no, you are paranoid schizophreic". (She's such a charmer.) I have wondered, occasionally, whether I'm schizophrenic just a bit, but every time I look it up, I just don't totally fit it. If it's possible to have just a touch of schizophrenia, that's me. I get the random extreme thoughts, for instance, but not too often, and not terribly intense. I definitely don't think in a linear manner.


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shadexiii
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19 Apr 2007, 9:45 pm

Ragtime wrote:
If it's possible to have just a touch of schizophrenia, that's me.


It is my belief that most "maladies" (throwing the Autism spectrum in here, the world considers it a detriment, hence the quotes) that one can have psychologically are not as binary as they are presented. I've been sure for quite some time that I'm at least a little bit "crazy" (specific diagnosis unimportant, people view me as a bit crazy, including myself, that's enough.) This is an issue on so many levels. If someone doesn't have "enough" symptoms, they may not get the appropriate treatment. (Or insurance companies will pull BS and not pay towards medication.) If someone has symptoms, and does something like what happened Monday, it is easy (and common) to lump anyone with said diagnosis together as a homogeneous group.

Diagnoses are great...as somewhere to start. Using them as the de-facto method of classification and treatment is not a good idea.



biostructure
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19 Apr 2007, 10:27 pm

indigoiis wrote:

Once, in English class, the teacher had the students read aloud, and when it was Cho's turn, he just looked down in silence, Davids recalled. Finally, after the teacher threatened him with an F for participation, Cho started to read in a strange, deep voice that sounded "like he had something in his mouth," Davids said.

"As soon as he started reading, the whole class started laughing and pointing and saying, `Go back to China,'" Davids said.


That's terrible. That has to explain at least some of why he was so quiet.

At one point in elementary school I was bullied every so often (it didn't happen constantly because the school tried to keep it under control). Fortunately I didn't mind verbal bullying, but when the bullies started taking my belongings and trying to ruin my activities on the playground, it really started to get to me.



Ragtime
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19 Apr 2007, 11:32 pm

shadexiii wrote:
Ragtime wrote:
If it's possible to have just a touch of schizophrenia, that's me.


It is my belief that most "maladies" (throwing the Autism spectrum in here, the world considers it a detriment, hence the quotes) that one can have psychologically are not as binary as they are presented. I've been sure for quite some time that I'm at least a little bit "crazy" (specific diagnosis unimportant, people view me as a bit crazy, including myself, that's enough.) This is an issue on so many levels. If someone doesn't have "enough" symptoms, they may not get the appropriate treatment. (Or insurance companies will pull BS and not pay towards medication.) If someone has symptoms, and does something like what happened Monday, it is easy (and common) to lump anyone with said diagnosis together as a homogeneous group.

Diagnoses are great...as somewhere to start. Using them as the de-facto method of classification and treatment is not a good idea.


Well, ya, mental diagnoses are just theoretical compartmentalizations, whereas living, human brains are not simply "this" type or "that" type 100%. I'd love to see complete, 3-D brain scans of 1,000 differently-diagnosed brains, and just be able to view and appreciate the way they ALL fade across diagnostic lines! The current classifications are simply the best we have, not truly accurate.


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19 Apr 2007, 11:49 pm

Cho Seung Hui had issues that even assuming that he had autism extended beyond that alone.

From Dr. Charles Krauthammer

Quote:
It turns out that Cho’s psychiatric impairment had been evident to many. He’d been cited for stalking two women on campus. Virginia Tech police tried unsuccessfully to have him involuntarily committed. A teacher referred him to counseling and even his fellow students saw signs of dangerous disturbance. “Cho’s plays ... had really twisted, macabre violence,” writes former classmate Ian McFarlane. “Before Cho got to class that day (of reading plays), we students were talking to each other with serious worry about whether he could be a school shooter. I was even thinking of scenarios of what I would do in case he did come in with a gun.”


he also notes:

Quote:
If we are going to look for a political issue here, the more relevant is not gun control but psychosis control. We decided a half a century ago that our more eccentric and, indeed, crazy fellow citizens would not be easily locked up in asylums. It was a very humane decision, but with the inevitable consequence that some who really need protection and quarantine are allowed to roam the streets freely.


(source)



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20 Apr 2007, 12:05 am

I talk too fast and I have to attempt saying something two-three times before getting it right.

Blah, I'm lucky to be an Aussie, no one will accuse me of being a threat.

(although I was violent a bit at school)

Since when does the media present facts anyway? Never in my opinion.


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