Fairly often I see people here roll their eyes at the mainstream media for unfairly portraying autistic people as dangerous upon the news that yet another spree killer in the US or some other violent offender was diagnosed with autism. I too have joined in that indignation but more recently I've started pay more attention to another trend here as well. I recently read a thread here written by a kid quoting from their own journal talking about how they had planned and fantasised about killing some of their friends, in one instance because of being pushed down and losing or breaking the lid to their water bottle. It's weird that I felt I had to write something as common sense as 'If you're thinking about killing someone over a water bottle you should probably see someone about that'. It was just one example but at times I see a lot of frustration and anger, especially in younger people, which I'm not sure is always properly addressed. People need to start saying something to people on here who sound like they're in distress and might do something stupid because of it. Even if it's just suggesting they seek some professional help. I don't buy that there's a biological link between autism and violence but frustration and violence? Anger and violence? Pain and violence? I hope this analogy isn't offensive to anyone but you can definitely improve the odds of a dog biting if you treat it like s**t. If you see someone saying things that sets an alarm bell ringing then tell them to talk to someone. A friend, family member, boss, colleague, counsellor, doctor, shrink, a favourite teacher, faith minister or whoever.
07 May 2014, 7:16 am
