will we get punished for Newtown?

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Adam had aspergers.The NT's might fear us too.

'tis best to not dwell on such thoughts.

I've been monitoring the news, and as far as I can tell, yes, a few NTs are blaming Newtown on Asperger's; but even more are maintaining that Asperger's doesn't have anything to do with it, and quoting statistics that show that people with AS have crime rates similar to the general public.

Yes, the occasional bigot is going to use Newtown as an excuse. It's easier for them to say, "This mass murderer must have been crazy," than to face the fact that an average, completely sane human being can become a mass murderer by choosing to give in to hate. That's a scary thing that many people don't want to face, but it's true.

We should also remember that, while Adam Lanza was probably autistic, so were two of his victims. The autism community lost Josephine Grey and Dylan Hockley, both young, innocent children whose teachers died trying to save their lives.

Autistic people are about as likely as neurotypicals to become murderers. But we are much more likely than NTs to become murder victims.

There are also many examples of pro-social behavior among autistic people. I remember, some time ago, a story about a young man with autism who died saving his family from a house fire. I have also read about several autistic people who are human-rights activists, often anti-bullying activists. Autistics who spend a lot of time trying to help others or improve the world usually have a very strong sense of fairness and social justice, and they refuse to see one human being as worth more than another. Because they're autistic, that comes naturally to them.

When an autistic person murders someone, that event is highly publicized. But one in a hundred people is autistic; just by chance, one in a hundred murderers will be autistic.

When an autistic person spends time and effort or even takes risks to help others, any news story tends to be a fluffy human-interest piece, and most of the time there's no news story at all--why bother to report on everyday things, like an autistic child who physically steps between a younger classmate and a bully, knowing very well that it'll get him beaten up? No reporter even learns about it, but it happens.

When an autistic person kills someone, it's headline news. When an autistic person quietly goes on his way, helping others, improving his little corner of the world, no one particularly notices. Not that we really care; such attention is something most introverts, shy folks, and socially awkward folks would rather avoid.

We're not defenseless against accusations of being potential mass murderers, though. I often see our NT friends, families, and spouses defending us against accusations like that, whether in newspaper editorials, scientific research that describes the (average and completely functional) moral reasoning of autistic people, or just in their everyday lives, speaking up for us. The people who know us personally know that we're not killers and are often pretty angry that we're getting accused of it.

I try not to worry about it. I've got my own life to worry about.

Adam's dad is blaming possible undiagnosed Schizophrenia so perhaps that's where the blame is going to get shifted too.

Well, that's just great, as if people with schizophrenia didn't have enough trouble already.

You take my mind to Madeleine McCan.. It is deemed socially acceptable for doctors to leave their 4-year old home alone to look after you 2-year old twins if you and your husband are well-educated doctors.
I am pretty sure the story would have had a totally different ending for the parents had they been mere street cleaners.

I've never experienced it, online or in person. But I admit it's possible.

Well, firstly we have no idea if he actually had autism. His brother said he thought he might have had it, but most NTs know next to nothing about autism so I don't think that's worth very much.

If there was going to be any backlash, it would have been immediate. The shooting was a long time ago, it isn't current any more and nobody really cares, unless they were directly affected. So no, stop worrying.

I think we are past that by now.
None of the kids in the regular school I started attending,
who all know I'm autistic has made any remarks along those
lines. And they would if it occurred to them.
I would think most people realize Lanza's autism had nothing to do with it.
Him being a homicidal psychopath is what caused that to happen.

I'd rather not think about what might happen, but I think it's only begun.

In highschool people thought I was someone who might bring a gun to school and shoot everyone, I was informed of this during a lockdown in which someone with a gun came in the school as if that wasn't bad enough. So people thinking weird people or people with varying disorders are to blame for these incidents is nothing new and we're sure to hear more when the next mass shooting makes it onto the news.

The scary thing is that actual psychopaths who do take guns and shoot people, often seem very normal beforehand. They're often not the "weird" and "creepy" people at all. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that many mass murderers *are* normal. They've just made different choices.

Then people wonder why I feel Asperger's is something to be ashamed of...