Debate about Asperger's Syndrome revives.

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Yep.

It's happening again. Many family members and friends supposedly said (I don't know if I'm mistaken), about the alleged "Sandy Hook Elementary School of Newton, Connecticut" murderer Adam Lanza had a developmental disorder (probably Asperger's Syndrome or other types of mental problems) that caused him to go on a violent killing-spree against his mother, 20+ people (children and adults), and himself.

My questions are the following: Why were there guns in the murderer's house? Was he ever abused during his childhood?

Peter Bell from Autism Speaks says that, "Autism did not cause this horror". If it didn't, then what did?!

The DSM writers are now thinking of taking the Asperger's Syndrome away from the book by May 2013. Autism Speaks is trying so hard to avoid that.

Here is a link of what I'm talking about:CNN

Here is also another link from "El Nuevo Dia" (a Puerto Rican spanish newspaper)El Nuevo Dia

If people start to think that this Syndrome that we have is the main cause that makes us so violent, they're going to avoid and fear us. And that's what worries me.

By the way, my condolences to the children and adults that died that day, and to their families.

Reply me on what you think.

Taking away the diagnosis would suit me fine.

I'd love to be un-branded.

Wouldn't it be great if we could have understanding and tolerance of people's personalities, and help working with or overcoming our particular weaknesses (everyone has 'em) without all the labels and the value judgments that come with 'em??

While I'm dreaming...

Thanks for the reply. I've been waiting for a reply in like an hour ago.

So, having Aspergers, seeing family with aspergers and friends with Autism, I can maybe give some personal insight. There are some on the spectrum that are prone to violent outbursts. My ex's brother would do some serious damage when he had one. Myself, I get self destructive, but would lash out when I was younger. There is a difference however, with what this guy did. He planned this. He knew for months or so that this was going to happen. He bought a lot of ammo, high capacity clips and knew where he would enter the school. There is a HUGE difference between a few moments of an outburst vs. a planned and coordinated attack on children. It would make as much sense to say it was because he was on the spectrum as to say he did it because he was white. Yes, he was white, and probably even on the spectrum, but that does not make a correlation between the two! And by the way, I know not everyone on the spectrum are prone to violent outbursts, just as not everyone is verbal.

I can see where this is going now. The last big staged right-vs-left battle is winding down, and now the next has been decided upon and we're the hostages. We're the scapegoats for the right, just as guns are for the left. It will not be difficult for the right-wing media to convince people who already see mental illness as a moral failing to start talking in terms reminiscent of a certain German party (which will in turn freak the left out), nor will it be difficult for the left-wing media to keep their side pumped up about gun control. In the end they'll probably shoot the hostages for maximum drama. Drama is, after all, the whole point.

Sooner or later, this is gonna end badly for all of us.

After the tragedy, my dad flat out admitted he was afraid of me thinking that because of all the things I went through in life (threatening to kill my little brother if he bothered me again and threatening with suicide if other kids didn't stop bullying me) that I, too, could snap one day.

I hate it how everyone is assuming what's on Lanza's mental health records and they're acting like armchair psychologists. We don't know s*** about him, his family, their problems or what his doctors thought. For all we know, the kid was suffering from other mental disorders in conjunction with Autism (how many of us have more issues than just Autism?). All we know is crumbs of information that news is sucking up like its cocaine.

I also hate it that we're being treated like we're not human. ONE Autistic person starts a murder spree. ONE. All of sudden we're all guilty? NT's murder people all the time. In fact, I'm fairly sure they make up the majority of murderers. According some peoples logic, that's good enough to condemn all NT's.

I think this has nothing to do with Autism. This is all about people turning a tragedy into a chance to push their already held ideologies. Yeah and we're the screwed up ones. (The last part was sarcasm for those who find it difficult to pickup sarcasm).

Even if it were proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that Adam Lanza's mass murder/suicide had grown out of his Asperger's, the fact of the matter is, if you've met one Aspie, you've met one Aspie. What applied to Lanza applied only to him, and not to the rest of us. Sure, there are doubtlessly unstable Aspies out there, but plenty of us are safe, sane individuals.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

I consider myself a safe, sane individual but when I was young - in my teens and twenties - on occasions I felt an enormous anger against the people I now know to be NTs. I would go to social events and parties and try to be optimistic but every time I found myself unable to blend-in in the way everyone else seemed to. If I spoke it was at the wrong moment - the conversation had moved on. I know now that my anxiety probably made me an uncomfortable person to relate to in what was meant to be a relaxed situation. Worse, the more anxious I got the clumsier I became, unable to judge spaces, knocking over someone's glass or stepping on their feet.

I've lost count of the number of parties I existed surreptiously - once via a downstairs window - with my self-confidence in tatters and a great loathing for all those happy and relaxed people with whom I seemed to have no connexion.

Things are different now because I'm older and have learned to play to my strengths and not worry if I don't fit into certain social scenes but I can understand at some level why Adam Lenza acting the way he did. It seems to me that the tragedy was that he was able to do so because his mother kept this great armoury in their home and allowed him access.

Except for the personal details, I could have written that letter!

Just want to add one thing...Adam Lanza was going to hurt someone.
Accessible guns made it convenient, but that boy was very much able to make an IED if he couldn't get guns, and they would have done even more damage, probably totalled the whole building....he was a very bright boy!

Sylkat