WHAT? Another SHOOTING? DEAR GOD. NO not again. This cannot be happening. Why? Why? Why? It’s everywhere!

On the TV, on Twitter, on Facebook, the radio and in all of our hearts. We are devastated for everyone. We are in complete disbelief and no matter how removed you are and how strong you think you are.. you crumble, cry like a baby and you thank God that it wasn’t your child. Then you feel guilty for even having that thought. You commiserate with your family, your friends, you hold your children tight and you fall apart again knowing those families can only dream of doing this again. The pain is palpable and it’s everywhere. You pass people in the grocery store and there’s a sense of unity because we all feel it and it’s awful. There are no words to describe what that town is going through, those families, those children who survived, those selfless teachers who saved lives and now have to carry on with such a traumatic incident and the scasrs left on the hearts must be enormous.

Then the endless media takes it one step further.

Did I just hear that correctly? Did they say the shooter had Aspergers? Why did they say that? They didn’t mention his hair color, or his digestive ability. I heard no mention of his favorite meal or eye color? I don’t want to know anything about him except how he could’ve used some psychiatric help before he reached this point. I don’t care if he was over or under weight so why would I care about his development/learning disorder? Would you tell me if he had cancer? Would that make him shoot innocent children? Well surely that’s the last I’ll hear of that. WHAT?? They’re talking about this again. People are saying it was a contributing factor? You must be kidding me. That’s ludicrous and it’s idiotic and it defies all factual evidence that we know to be true about Autism/Aspergers. Now there’s some letter floating all over facebook? I’ll just continue to ignore this. This story is like a Kardashian marriage and it’ll be over before you know it. Surely the media wouldn’t perpetuate false information knowingly. They have people who do research and understand their impact on thoughts and perception. The world is more enlightened than this and they know the plight of those with Autism and they would never add insult to injury in such an irresponsible way.

The crud hits my house and I am cleaning up projectile vomit when on my TV screen is a story about Autism/Aspergers and the connection with Connecticut. WAIT!! There is NO connection!

(I add this vomit tidbit because my son has autism and he can’t plan to vomit. He doesn’t do it enough to reference where this awful activity should take place).

They say “Although there’s no link between violence and autism the backlash has been profound”. Ummm did they just inject a reason to question the “findings”? Yes it seems they did. My hometown Channel 12 news will do a great job with this. I sit down and I am filled with rage as I see a title of a hate group on facebook who prides itself in killing (by setting on fire the next kid they find with Aspergers). This is when I feel something so unfamiliar to me that I hardly recognize myself over the next few hours. The underlying tone of this story is sympathetic to families of Autism, but the message is NOT clear and the title itself lends doubt. This is something we can’t afford. We have to deal with stares and public judgment and ostracizing of our children, but fear? NO never. Nobody in their right mind would be fearful of a child with Autism. The most premeditated they get is how to get a favorite snack or outing.

The story should’ve been definitive, educational and calmed the fears of our community. The story, if there had to be one, should NOT have featured a hate group and it definitely shouldn’t have featured their mission to kill. By the way, I don’t care if the group has been removed from Facebook. They made my local evening news which is more than I did as an Autism Advocate. How many ding dongs actually typed that into their search bar to find out what the media isn’t telling them because they already embrace fear and just need an extra dose to strike out at a child with autism.

Let me be perfectly clear. That horrific massacre was not induced by, contributed by, caused by Autism/Aspergers any more than his hair color did. I say that definitively because I can. The facts are the facts. The sun is still in the sky too people. How do I know this? It’s a fact.

Mourn in the way that helps you deal with this, but don’t go out on a witch hunt to satisfy your need to avenge these children and adults who were murdered. It won’t bring them back and it won’t serve one single positive purpose.

We the Autism community have a mountain of obstacles to overcome and the people living with Autism/Aspergers have even bigger ones, so if you don’t mind, pretty frickin please, do not add to our already difficult existence by including our beautiful, loving, sweet and harmless children in such a debauchery of information.

On behalf of all of us,

Thank you!

Want to learn more about Autism and how you can help. I invite you to attend our TACA monthly meeting on the first Friday of each month. It’s free, there’s no hazing, free snacks, learning material, bonding with other families and a support system like no other.

 

TACA- Talk About Curing Autism

January 4th 7pm-9pm (meetings first Friday of each month)

St. Andrews United Methodist Church

9801 Fort King Road

Richmond, VA 23229

Families with Autism Helping Families with Autism

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