First things first, let me just say, what happened in Las Vegas on October 1st was horrendous and genuinely my heart goes out to everyone affected by the shooting.
I’m not going to comment on the shooting, nor the ever on-going argument over gun control.
What I am going to comment on though, is articles such as this:
I’ll show you the headline and main photo:
And this is how it appears on Facebook:
So what do we have here before we even get into the Article? Well we have a giant Police mugshot of a mass murder with the word ‘Asperger’s’ sat right next to it…
How many negative connotations will now be derived from that…?
So, to save you the trouble of reading it and also to prevent the website getting clickbait links, I’ll summarise:
A “Professional'” person diagnoses another person he has never met, with a condition he doesn’t even know the proper name of. (He calls it Asperger’s Disorder – which is not a thing)
Keith Ablow, the Author and resident Forensic Psychiatrist has NEVER met Stephen Paddock. All he knows of him and his life is taken from interviews and quotes, posted in news reports in print and on TV. So any information he has on Paddock is, at best, second-hand. So, on this basis and in his eminent wisdom (please note my sarcasm) he has deemed his skills as a Diagnostician great enough to diagnose Paddock with Asperger’s Syndrome. Except he calls it Asperger’s Disorder… Which isn’t a thing by the way.
Headlines and articles directly linking Autism and murder, as this one does, are dangerous and not to be trusted.
If Dr Ablow were to read my response to his article I’m sure he would rebut by saying that in the very first paragraph of his article he states that most people with Autism do no harm:
“…please note the fact that the vast, vast majority of people who suffer with autism spectrum disorders do not harm anyone.”
How lovely of him to write that…
Except, according to a Forbes Article from 2016, a study found that 59% of Social Media viewers share articles without ever having actually read them. They don’t even go so far as opening them. Now Dr Ablow knows this. The editors and headline writers at Respvblica know this. Anyone with a little savvy on Social Media knows this. So they have deliberately made a contentious headline, knowing that two thirds of their audience will share this article, based on that headline.
Something else extremely problematic is that he follows that last sentence with this one:
“They are brave victims of mental illness and perpetrators of nothing.”
This makes me fear for all the Asperger’s SYNDROME people he has ‘treated’. It’s not a mental illness. It’s a Neurological Developmental Disorder. A mental illness is treatable and usually curable. A Neurological Developmental Disorder is not. But hey, what do I know? I’m not a Forensic Psychiatrist… Apparently Dr Ablow is though, and one with 25 years of experience, so the fact that he can easily confuse the two is extremely worrying…
Don’t just take my word for it. Luciane Hatadini, Autistic, says:
“This is the kind of thing that only causes harm, nothing else. I remember when a pilot caused a crash a few years ago killing all the passengers and all the media was talking about him suffering from depression, as if depression makes someone want to kill a lot of people with them. It’s wrong.”
Chuck McIntyre, an Autistic Advocate, had this to say:
“People should know that Autism alone does not give people homicidal tendencies and does not mean you do not know right from wrong. Asperger’s does not make you a Sociopath or psychopath.”
He went on to say:
“There been some bad people with Autism of course but now this article is just going to become vocal point for anti-Autism“
A., a fellow Autistic Advocate agreed:
“It (Asperger’s) would not explain why someone would commit a crime, it isn’t that simple or ridiculous. Many autistic people suffer from repeat discrimination, rejection, persecution, bullying and do not commit crimes as a result. This is simply another news story demonising, dehumanising, or discrediting people on the spectrum and disseminating false information.”
A. also had a message for Dr Ablow:
“Putting ‘MD’ at the end of the entire article after one’s name, does not give it some kind of stamp of authenticity, or make it untouchably, unchallengeably factually correct.”
I want it made clear that statistically there is no link between Autism/Asperger’s and murder. Autistic people are not homocidal and are not more likely to be homocidal, despite the headlines claiming otherwise.
Autistic people find it difficult enough to live in a Neurotypical world, without the tar of being unsafe to be around.
Everywhere I look, I see someone who has committed a crime being described as ‘being a loner’ and therefore Autistic, and before you know it there are articles by ‘professionals’ such as Dr Ablow garnering hundreds of likes. It’s ‘diagnosis’ by association and those who have the diagnosis, or suspect themselves, are given one more barrier tomanoeuvre around.
Keith Ablow has the initials MD after his name. He swore the Hippocratic Oath:
“I will follow that system of regimen which, according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous.”
He has sworn to do no harm. Yet he does. And gets paid well for it.
If you’ve found this article useful you can support my work by donating any amount from $3 (about the same as a coffee – mine’s a caramel latte please!).
I know not everyone wants, or needs to buy one of my training courses, but I often find people will read one of my free articles and want to say ‘thank you’ (and this is really appreciated as they’re a lot of work to write!) Buying me a virtual coffee is a really easy way to say thanks. It also supports me to keep being able to create new, free content and keep my older, free content up-to-date. It also allows me to keep my website ad-free!
My Autism FAQs page is a good place to start if you’re new to my work and want to explore more. Thanks for your support, Kieran.
JOIN KIERAN’S MAILING LIST (for infrequent, but useful, updates!)
And, as a thank you for joining, you’ll get a 10% off code emailed to you which you can use on Kieran’s on-demand autism training and ebooks (including his flagship training The Inside of Autism).
Training and ebooks from Kieran
I have a full range of autism training and ebooks on my website; starting from just a few dollars and all priced to be affordable.
Got more questions about Autism?
If reading this article has given you more questions then my Autism FAQs is a great place to point you in the right direct to get answers (and most of where I direct you is to free-to-access resources!).
1 Response to "Autistic people are not murderers"
To really let you know, in uncensored terms, (And please don’t read this to your kids.) how AWFULLY some really disgustingly twisted Curebie Snake “people” are conflating Autism, an all too often misunderstood Disability (ABSOLUTELY no thanks to Corporate SHITCUNTS like Auti$m “$peak$”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), with ABSOLUTELY HORRIFIC ATROCITIES, I’ve actually really really gone *FUCKEN NUCLEAR* at a… certain Quora question enquiring on whether *JIMMY SAVILE* the Country’s most SICKENINGLY REPULSIVE PAEDO/NECROVILES was “indeed an Autistic man all this time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! REALLY FUCKEN REALLY QUORA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMFG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LIKE SORRY NOT SORRY BUT THAT RIGHT THERE IS JUST A REPULSIVE THING TO EVEN THINK ABOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOOK I’LL ADMIT BEING ON THE OFFENSIVE HUMOUR SIDE MESELF…… I’M PERFECTLY OK WITH JOKES ABOUT SICKO SAVILE TO HIGHLIGHT WHAT A PATHETICALLY EVIL NONCECOMPOOP HE REALLY WAS…… BUT IF YOU DARE IMBECILICLY INSINUATE THAT THE CHAVVILY JINGLEY JANGLEY SHELLSUIT SHITCUNT “WAS ON THE SPECTRUM SOMEWHERE” THEN CHANCES ARE YOUR PROBABLY A CLOSET P**DO YOURSELF WHO DESERVES TO BE SACRIFICED TO KALI MA OR SOMETHING COS ACTUALLY AUTISTIC PEOPLE LOVE INDIANA JONES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry about this rant Mr Rose… its just that I really really despise the Autism = Evil Deranged School Shooter Stereotype!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!