Asperger’s community fears backlash

Local autism experts say they hope that ignorance about Asperger’s syndrome does not lead to a backlash for those with the same diagnosis as the 20-year-old who attacked Sandy Hook Elementary School last Friday.

Shortly after Adam Lanza killed 20 children at the school in suburban Connecticut, news surfaced that he had been diagnosed with the disorder.

Though they generally have no problem with speech and are often very bright, people with Asperger’s, a form of high-functioning autism, often have problems with social skills and may exhibit eccentric or repetitive behaviors. Though they can handle the basic functions of life just fine, those with Asperger’s have difficulty picking up on social cues.

While accounts of Lanza’s school days certainly include some of those symptoms, experts say that the diagnosis does not include a predilection for premeditated violence.

“This doesn’t fit any pattern of autism or Asperger’s that any of us know of,” said Anne Donnellan, director of the Autism Institute at the University of San Diego.

Several local psychologists, and others experienced with various forms of autism, said Monday that they have been getting calls and emails from San Diego families touched by the disorder.

“I’ve gotten a lot of emails, some local and some nationally. They are very concerned. People are worried that a group of folks who are already misunderstood will be labeled as homicidal maniacs or something,” Donnellan said.

Dr. Courtney Olinger, a San Diego psychologist active in the local autism and Asperger’s outreach community, said she too has received calls and emails from local families worried that Lanza’s rampage, and his link to Asperger’s, will have long-lasting consequences.

“I have a number of parents that have called very concerned. We know that these families in Connecticut are really hurting right now, but I think it would be a double tragedy if it increases stigma for people that are in no way connected to this,” Olinger said.

In the first news cycle following the shooting, some media outlets characterized Asperger’s diagnoses as having a lack of empathy for others. But experts were quick to counter that notion.

Valerie Paradiz, a San Diego author who has Asperger’s, said it is important for the public not to confuse a difficulty with recognizing socials cues and communicating in social situations with a lack of caring.

“Very simply, is just not true that a lack of empathy is an autistic trait,” Olinger said.

And Donnellan, the USD director, added that little is yet known about who diagnosed Lanza. She said there are many examples of misdiagnosis where Asperger’s syndrome is concerned, which is one of the reasons the diagnosis may be dropped from the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mendal Disorders, the bible of psychologists nationwide.

“We would like more information on who diagnosed him. It seems like every third person and his cocker spaniel is being labeled ‘autistic’ by somebody these days,” Donnellan said.

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