Again, it happened
again. I’m devastated, and sad,
and really wish we as a society could turn ourselves and work in the direction
to help the mentally ill.
My thoughts and prayers are
with all of those that are suffering in the wake of the tragedy at Isla
Vista.
Another mentally ill mad man
did the unspeakable. He went after
innocence, he went after girls, he went after his roommates, he went after
anyone that he thought wronged him.
He was certainly mentally ill after watching his multiple YouTube videos
and reading his 141 page manifesto.
The break with reality was sad, and shocking that the system, his
parents, and the police failed him, and then they failed the rest of us.
But all of that will be a can
of worms that will be open and picked apart over the next several months.
Watching the reports this
morning, I was saying to myself “Okay media, get it right, don’t do it
again”.
After the Colorado movie
theatre shootings, there were multiple reports that that shooter was a loner
and possibly autistic. After
Newtown, CT ABC News, "Shooter was autistic - with personality
disorder". The same thing happened the day after the Aurora, CO
shooting. Joe Scarborough of MSNBC said "These shooters are young,
white, men, possibly autistic, loners. Again after Newtown Piers Morgon on CNN had a psychologist
who stars on a BRAVO reality show listening to millionaire cocktail
queen Bethenney Frankel whine about her poor pathetic life, blathering
misinformation about Autism. Piers Morgan then goes on to say how autistics are
missing something in the brain.
So I’m watching this morning,
and praying that we’ve learned something from all this senseless tragedy but no, this morning 3 reports went on
to state that the mad man had POSSIBLY been diagnosed with “Aspergers” at a
younger age. NO ACTUAL FACTS, but
on their race to be first to report they say Austim is the reason. So as other
reports are stating Autism is a mental illness, personality disorder and
behavior disorder. Over and over to the point of nausea. There are
no reports or evidence that autism has EVER been the cause of violence. In fact, there are more reports and
research that those with autism are MORE likely to be the victims of crime,
assault, and murder. That is
actual fact, and I apologize for the lack of responsibility that our media has
taken in the race to be first to report even if what they are report is
sensationalizing and not actual facts.
As the parent of 2 small
children with autism, I am angry that the entire media has set back autism
acceptance and awareness years. These children have so much social stigma
on them already, so much to fight through just to do what typical children
do. It was all shoved to the back of the bus by the large sweeping
statements made by many bloviating windbags who did nothing but damage an
entire community of people by their false misleading, misguided and uninformed
reports. My son does have public temper tantrums and outbursts, and can
at times be aggressive. I get the stares, I have had friends stop
bringing their children here to play, what we really need to do is throw psycho
killer on top of the stigma they have to carry on their tiny little
shoulders. Thanks a lot media. I thought your job was to tell a
story of what happened? Clearly not your practice anymore. They literally
set back the acceptance and understanding of autism years.
After the Newtown
shootings as I lost most hope for
those in the media CNN's Dr Sanjay Gupta proved to be the voice of reason via
social media. On his twitter feed "Something needs to be clarified,
there is no evidence of a link between autism and planned violent
behavior". Then Anderson Cooper took to the airwaves to debunk the
myths being reported about autism. So to Anderson thank you, to Megyn
Kelly thank you, to Dr Gupta, we appreciate your truth, support and common
sense in your reporting.
Megan Kelly was the first to
report on America’s Newsroom Megyn Kelly "Autism is not a mental illness
but a neurological disorder." And believe it or not that is not very
hard to research. That exact definition is on the CDC website, the Autism
Society, Autism Speaks. So clearly our media and the so called
journalists and anchor people no longer like to work they just want to report
something first.
My heart hurts for my kids and then I was just overwhelmed with the thought
of if a shooter came into my kids class. My son cognitively would not
know what was going on, he would not receptively understand instructions
from the person trying to hurt him or help him. The sensory overload of
his nervous system would probably cause him to do something that would end up
costing him his life. THAT IS THE REALITY OF AUTISM that the media is
missing. These kids are more likely to be the victim, the helpless,
silent victim of a crime than the perpetrator.
The pain that I feel for these children with autism that now have a new
battle to overcome. They now have to fight their way out of the reports
of so called “journalists” that know not what they speak. There are too many
people that take the media seriously and will now be afraid of people with
autism, will make more of a stigma on the kids than they already have. I
have a friend that always tells me "Your kids don't play with mine"
"They don't share", "They don't want to be friends with my
kid". I have to constantly fight that kind of ignorance, and
now I have to be an advocate for all the kids and families with autism that our
kids aren't going to turn Psycho Killer.
The setback that our families get all the time is heart breaking, when
the media goes after our children it’s devastating.
So as this tragedy is on the forefront of our minds, I hope we really learn
that until we are ready to deal with MENTAL ILLNESS, we are never going to
overcome this kind of event.
The truth is there is evil in the world, the truth is we can’t hide it or
ignore it.
Mental Illness is
tragic, but it can be treated, ignore it and it is like putting gasoline on a
fire.
That is what happened
here.
We can not blame autism, or
make autism a mental illness, when it is defined by the CDC as a NEUROLOGICAL
DISORDER.
