Pod Delusion: Autism, Aurora and Joe Scarborough
Blame culture is rife in polemic TV – but it’s not Autism in this case.
order Pregabalin on Thursday 26th July I was on the Pod Delusion, talking about Joe Scarborough’s comments about the Colorado shooter. Here’s the transcript of my little rant/speech.
A killing on the scale that Jon Holmes perpetrated will always engender a huge response; column inches about his appearance in court on Monday focused on his lack of emotion and the way he appeared to struggle to stay awake.
One American TV Show host has gone further though. MSNBC host Joe Scarborough suggested that James Holmes might be “on the autism scale”.
Irresponsible and inexcusable are the words that first sprang to mind when I heard that this had been said but I hadn’t really prepared myself to hear the full audio.
Joe Scarborough’s exact words were:
“As soon as I hear about this shooting, I knew who it was. I knew it was a young, white male, probably from an affluent neighborhood, disconnected from society — it happens time and time again. Most of it has to do with mental health; you have these people that are somewhere, I believe, on the autism scale. I don’t know if that’s the case here, but it happens more often than not. People that can walk around in society, they can function on college campuses — they can even excel on college campuses — but are socially disconnected.”
On Monday The President of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network urged Scarborough and MSNBC to retract his comments and said
“No information on Mr. Holmes has suggested that he displays the diagnostic characteristics of autism and no evidence exists tying autism with violent behavior or threats to public safety.”
Autism is characterised by a lack of communication skills and struggles with typical social interaction. For someone with such a high profile to link violence with Autism is unkind, unfair and very, very misleading. In fact, there’s evidence to suggest that the Autistic are more likely to be the victim of violence than the perpetrators.
What’s at the very heart of Scarborough’s assertion is that Autism is somehow inextricably linked to sociopathy or psychopathy. This is the kind of misinformation that permeates popular culture and leads to the general idea that the Autistic mind is damaged and beyond help – something many doctors might say about a psychopath.
The truth is Autism is so much more complex than that. Someone who has been diagnosed as Asperger’s – a form of Autism which some people refer to as ‘high-functioning’ – often really enjoys social interaction and definitely tries to make friends. The key part of Autism that many people focus on is the difficulty in reading social cues and understanding others’ emotions. But this is absolutely NOT the same as having none of their own.
A psychopath may wear the mask of concern but usually is thinking through what he or she may gain from a situation. A person on the Autism scale may not notice your discomfort, or notice that something is wrong, but be unsure what that is.
One common aspect of Asperger’s is a self-fulfilling cycle: a teenager who always finds he says the wrong things in social situations (already fraught with difficulty due to hormonal changes that he might find difficult to deal with), may just withdraw into whatever it is he finds interesting. Humans are complex beings with emotions that an average person may find unfathomable, so when someone with Autism tells you they don’t understand why your voice has changed or why your face is in a weird configuration, they are identifying cues that a neurotypical person knows almost innately.
We need help for those on the Autism spectrum and we need understanding. I’m somewhat surprised that Scarborough, himself a father of a boy with Asperger’s, could so easily write off a community of people, comparing them with someone who has committed such an awful crime.
The discussion of the Colorado shootings at the Aurora theater should be focused on guns and how easy it is for anyone to get and use them. Dave Cullen, the author of ‘Columbine’, cautioned that we should be reticent to jump to too many conclusions about the killer: “Over the next several days”, he said, “you will be hit with all sorts of evidence fragments suggesting one motive or another. Don’t believe any one detail.” “Resist the temptation to extrapolate details prematurely into a whole”, he concluded.
I’m guessing Scarborough didn’t think this through.
Something like this can so easily undo all the hard work that Autism Advocates do in a heartbeat and we’re back to explaining that Rain Man was a fictionalised account of Kim Peek – an incredible man who actually didn’t have Autism, but FG syndrome. But don’t let the facts get in the way of an amateur diagnosis.
Unfortunately Scarborough does seem to have a lack of thorough knowledge of his son’s diagnosis as he apparently believes that his son’s Asperger’s is linked to thimerosal, a preservative within vaccines. Vaccines are, again, a whole different argument (one that’s tiresome given it’s proven there’s no link). In an effort to stamp on the misinformation out there I’m currently taking a course on vaccines so I can give a really educated response to those who seek to discredit what is arguably one of the greatest biological discoveries ever.
But, whilst writing this, I found that apparently Scarborough has issued some kind of statement. President of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network and representative for the National Council on Disability Ari Ne’eman (who has Asperger’s himself) issued this statement: “Joe Scarborough’s recent non-apology regarding his unfounded remarks suggesting the Aurora shooter is on the autism spectrum shows that he continues to miss the point. Not only did Scarborough refer to Autistic Americans as burdens on society, he also used his statement to promote the long standing fallacy of an “autism epidemic.” Furthermore, his use of Autism Speaks, an organization widely reviled within the Autistic community and without a single Autistic person on their board of directors, as political cover for his remarks indicates a lack of real understanding of the issues at stake.”
As a former tutor for children on the Autistic spectrum, I’m very passionate about providing good quality information about Autism, its definitions, the evidence-based therapies and interventions and, unfortunately, what quack treatments there are out there.
I’m taking my Autism talk around the countryand my August tour starts on August 2nd at Tunbridge Wells. I’m then heading to Brighton on the 13th, Horsham on the 14th and then I’m off to Edinburgh Skeptics on the Fringe on the 22nd. I’ll also be extending my run into September, on the 4th, in Nottingham.
[More info on why, what & where]
If you’d like to know more about Autism advocacy and/or like to get involved in an awareness campaign that I’m planning then please get in touch. My website is tannice.co.uk and you can contact me there or via Twitter.
