Another terrible mass murder. Another excuse for the lazier elements of the media to trot out the tired old cliché of autism causing somebody to go out and kill. Even if the diagnosis of Asperger’s Syndrome is accurate, correlation is not the same as causation.
The causes in this case were probably complex and interwoven, but certain factors stand out. This young man felt tremendous pressure to conform to societal expectations of sexual activity. He had access to a firearm and ammunition that were not stored securely. He presumably had nobody to whom he felt able to talk about his problems.
I’m not trying to paint him as a victim here; I do not condone his actions at all. I do think that society as a whole needs to take a closer look at his situation to understand what motivated this terrible act. I see it as a symptom of sickness in society that crimes such as this are committed.
Dear Autism Community,
Considering the recent sad tragedy and the false media stigma that seems to be rising up – I want to ask you to join me in doing a flash blog tomorrow using hashtag #Aspergers & #Autismisnotacrime so we can find each other’s posts.
Although I cannot host everyone’s blog posts on my page, if you email me your blog post I will tweet it out. (Authorleary @ gmail dot com)
I’ve never led one before but I feel compelled to help clarify this false stigma that the media has placed on our community.
Will you join me and write a blog post about the most positive way that ASD has affected you? Please post it tomorrow to show the world that this stigma is wrong and our community is nothing to be afraid of.
Best,
Gretchen Leary
My Autistic Dance 
As I understand it, he was never diagnosed with Asperger’s, just his parents “thought he was”. Most of the stuff I’ve read in the UK about the incident doesn’t mention autism at all, it’s all about misogyny
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That is correct. It was the family lawyer who mentioned Asperger’s to the press early on.
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