So Is Jenny McCarthy Going To Shut Up About Autism After The Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting?

I think the diagnosis of Autism is going to go down now. The label is going to be tainted. Stigma is what keeps people from seeking treatment for mental disorders. There is going to be fallout from this. They started 'black boxing' psychiatric medications after so many murders involved people who were on meds for mental illness. Autism Speaks better get their PR crew together, NOW.

• I'm surprised more autistics don't commit mass shootings, although I think the VA Tech gunman was somewhere on that spectrum.

• Columbine really hurt the psychiatric community.

• I think the psychiatric community does a pretty good job at hurting itself. Not saying you're wrong tho, R2.

• "Columbine really hurt the psychiatric community." Say wha...?

• r4, is off her meds.

• What the hell are you talking about, OP? So now you think Jenny McCarthy is a psychiatrist?

• OP, there are millions of autistic people in this country. Only ONE, to date, has walked into an elementary school and started shooting children randomly. The only thing bullshit like what you posted will do is stigmatize autistic children *more*, and for no valid reason.

• This country was far better off when we institutionalized everyone who had any kind of mental disorder. They shouldn't be allowed to be a part of free society.

  Sister%20Jude

• There is no diagnosis of autism in this case. It is conjecture.

• My son's school district does mainstreaming. A neighbor boy is autistic and was in my son's class for a few years. This year my son started high school but the neighbor boy did not. He's "going to stay in the intermediate school for a while." When my son's 8th grade class held their graduation, a name was called out and all these people started cheering. A HUGE misshapen guy shuffled across the stage tossing his head to and fro and nearly falling over his feet. I asked my son who that was and he said, "Oh he's one of the autistic kids. He's always cursing at everyone and shouting and arguing and trying to start fights." I said, "He would have been called mentally retarded when I was a kid and would be in special classes. How old is he anyway?" "Seventeen. They had to keep him in intermediate school because he didn't want to leave and he couldn't do high school work anyway. They finally graduated him." I said, "So he'll be in high school next year with you?" and my son said, "No, he's finished with school. He turns 18 during the summer and the district doesn't need to keep him in school anymore as long as its ok with his parents. He's going into some kind of workshop at one of the churches." Seriously, I would never have considered someone like that autistic, but it's the newly designated catch-all.

• Assuming that Lanza is the shooter and autistic, why on earth would that cause an advocate for the treatment of autism to shut up? If anything, it would be time for her to double down on her efforts. Am I missing something?

• [quote]This country was far better off when we institutionalized everyone who had any kind of mental disorder. They shouldn't be allowed to be a part of free society. This country was fah bettuh ahf when we institutionalahzed everyone who hed any kind of mental disahduh. They shouldn't be allowed to be a paht of free suhciety.

  fixed%20that%20for%20you

• "This country was far better off when we institutionalized everyone who had any kind of mental disorder. " That stopped because it was expensive. This is a society that would rather see the incurably mentally ill wandering the streets and dying in the cold, rather than give them bed space and caretakers. It's also a society that throws dangerous crazy people back to their families, because keeping them safe in an institution costs money. I really think that the Republican overlords WANT the crazy and dangerous nutballs out on the street, because it creates an atmosphere in which people are willing to give up their rights, freedoms, and responsibilities in order to feel safe.

• The mental health system was run by the states via the psychiatric hospital system. It wasn't covered by insurance. It was state money. Not only was this expensive for the states, but when Geraldo Rivera started his Willowbrook "investigation," tons of people began suing the states. Mental patients; former mental patients; families of mental patients. The states said, "Fuck this shit, we can't afford it." People in the1970s were suing states over hydrotherapy that occurred in the 1950s. There was a case where a psychiatrist ok'd a weekend furlough for a man who'd been committed because he attempted to kill his wife. Naturally, he killed his wife that weekend. Huge, multimillion dollar lawsuit against the state. It was like a free-for-all. You knew this would go on for years, with people finding reasons to sue the state. One of the reasons my state taxes are so much lower today than they were for my parents in the 1970s is because the state got out of the mental health business.

• Dear anti-autism troll: Every news report I've seen on this case says that the shooter had "a personality disorder." Autism is not a personality disorder. So please STFU, you piece of stinking shit. kthxby

• [quote] Autism is not a personality disorder. Theah still social retahds

  Sister%20Jude

• it's the new McCarthyism.

• [quote] "This country was far better off when we institutionalized everyone who had any kind of mental disorder. " [quote] That stopped because it was expensive. This is a society that would rather see the incurably mentally ill wandering the streets and dying in the cold, rather than give them bed space and caretakers. It's also a society that throws dangerous crazy people back to their families, because keeping them safe in an institution costs money. You want to give mentally ill people free health treatment? That wouldn't be ethical. It's only ethical if you make them work for it. You wouldn't want them to take handouts. This is America, not some God damn Socialist country

• A good number of the reports are saying the Sandy Hook shooter had Asperger's syndrome.

• I love the Sister Judeisms.

  Dactah%20Ahden%20

• [quote]OP, there are millions of autistic people in this country. Only ONE, to date, has walked into an elementary school and started shooting children randomly. The only thing bullshit like what you posted will do is stigmatize autistic children *more*, and for no valid reason. Honey, none of that matters. It's a PR problem. The public doesn't care about facts.

• [quote]Dear anti-autism troll: Every news report I've seen on this case says that the shooter had "a personality disorder." Autism is not a personality disorder. So please STFU, you piece of stinking shit. No, you're not watching the news. Every report confirms he was autistic. His brother was the one who said he had a personality 'problem.'

• OP = has sex with colored people

• My neighbor has a 19 yo son with autism and a big well-stocked gun safe. And, he has a really bad temper. Super.

• [quote]Every report confirms he was autistic No, they don't.