Virginia Tech Shooter & Autism
My emails are abuzz these past 24 hours with information linking the Virginia Tech Shooter Cho Seung-Hui with autism. CNN.com had a report up for about an hour yesterday containing this information but for an unknown reason pulled the story. Stories on the Washington Post website state that his family members thought he might be autistic as a youngster. There is still no definitive answer as to whether or not he was actually diagnosed with autism or if it was just suspected.
AutismLink has published a press release addressing their concerns. “While the entire autism community in Pittsburgh and across the nation are devastated by the recent events at Virginia Tech, we would like to caution the public not to stigmatize children or individuals with autism.” The entire press release can be viewed here: AutismLink Reacts to Diagnosis of Autism in Virginia Tech Shooter
There is a blog entry on the Washinton Post site that has a really disturbing comment from a reader. Here is the comment in its entirety:
I’m sure someone will get very offended by my question, but I wonder if Cho was autistic. There are autistic children who are easily identified by their being unable to look anyone in the eye. Also many are very wrapped up in video games as it is another reality. If it turns out that Cho was autistic, this is something that needs to be taken seriously as there are many autistic children in public schools today. Depending on the child, their anger is nearly visible and seething underneath the surface. Occasionally they have violent outbursts as well and teachers have been advised to give them breaks when they see this kind of potential explosion. Perhaps they don*t have access to guns as Cho did, but what about that kid in Minnesota(?) last year. Does anyone remember what I*m thinking of. Wasn*t he American Indian? This is of serious concern or should be.
Sound the alarms, there are many autistic children in public schools today. What is this world coming too allowing children with autism into the public school system? Are you kidding me? This anonymous poster sounds rather ignorant. Yes some autistic children have violent outbursts but so do non-autistic children. Should we just institutionalize our children to protect everyone from them? No. These children deserve an education just like neurotypical children do. I usually am not at a loss for words but with this comment I’m pretty close to speechless. Shocked and saddened all in one.
April 20th, 2007 at 9:18 am
Well I think the point should be, not autism in and of itself, but that he was left untreated, if the report is true. Autism is treatable, but left untreated…