Are We The Only Country With This Problem?
 

I'm sure not all asbergers syndrome people are exactly the same.
He seems to have been an extreme case. We know an adult with it and he's just a bit socially inept....but still a good soul.....tries really hard to interact and is extremely helpful to the immediate family. Does try to show respect. Again, they are all different. Many can be brought out of their "shell". It depends.

I also have two autistic neices who are mutes. There is a wide spectrum "under" the autism umbrella. Not all are violent. What I've noticed with mine is that they do not grasp the little things.......they see things in a certain way........but not all the fine details. Hard to explain.

I totally agree with you on the guns in the house, under the same roof with a known problem son. The last thing I'd be doing re home schooling would be target shooting. Unfortunately,her choices led to her own death as well as the senseless death of innocents.

Anyone looking at the photos of those beautiful little angels and not shedding a tear.......is unfeeling..............like the killer was. I've heard he couldn't feel pain. The entire scenario is very sad.

Just take an hour of your time and watch this video.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDivHkQ2GSg]INNOCENTS BETRAYED - The TRUE story of GUN CONTROL WORLDWIDE - (Graphic Images) - YouTube[/ame]

It's graphic and terrible and explains the difference between gun control and people control. Do we really want this to happen here? Think it can't?

Quoted to link will show up.

We are not capable of having a rational discussion in this country today far too many people who emote rather than reason out solutions. Beside which they won't bother to review past or current events to get a better prospective. Clearly there is a global initiative here via the UN and IMHO not in the best interests to a free America

As I understand it, and I am not an expert, just like any other syndromes Asbergers is complex. Autistic people have a wide range of intelligence, those with Asbergers have higher intelligence than the average population. Autism is too a spectrum disorder with some people unable to communicate verbally at all but others can articulate either verbally or non verbally very well. Autism usually effects a persons ability to socialize or interact with others and many people with Autism are tactically defensive and don't like or enjoy the touch of others. I personally have not read of any autistic tendency that was physically harmful to others. Most people severely affected with Autism have a rather flat personality. Some children with Autism are also mildly or severely mentally retarded and some are in the normal range of intelligence and some are gifted. If a child has Autism and is also gifted that is then called Asbergers Syndrome.

We all very well may associate with people who have a slight amount of Autism as it is a spectrum disorder that affects one out of 88 children born, some slightly and some severely. Having Autism does not rule out that a person cannot also have other forms of mental illness.It takes a team of specially trained mental health professionals to make a diagnosis of the type and severity of Austism and of Asbergers.

One person who posts regularly on here has stated on this forum that she has a form of Autism. She is a wonderful person.

Many of us have grandchildren affected with Autism and when the families are told they have Asbergers too they are happy because that is a positive help in that child learning useful things that can make him or her independent. Asbergers is a form of Autism that in my limited knowledge is not associated with violent or murderous behavior.

But as I said before, sadly having one form of cancer doesn't mean you can't also get another form of cancer and that is the same with mental illness.

I am not an expert, just an avid reader.

I do not think anyone is seriously considering banning all guns in America. That would not happen. Hunting and target shooting are sports many enjoy. However, the types of guns such as AR-15's, SKS's, and other assault type rifles, streetsweeper type shotguns, and high capacity magazines do not have a place in the civilian population. They are NOT hunting implements.

I have not shot a gun since target practicing with my grandfather in Reno, NV around 1980. Most who knew me would probably describe me as rather quiet.

I do remember being stuck in a developmentally disabled camp while a pre-elementary student in Wisconsin. My parents claim that this was because I was diagnosed as autistic. I did have to struggle with co-ordination problems all through childhood and still have speech problems when under stress.

I got 4 degrees though one of which was a Law Degree from what that the time was one of the Top Twenty Public Law Schools in the U.S.--the University of Minnesota. (Class of 1989)

A teacher in high school, Mrs. Mitchell at Wooster High School in Reno, NV., saw something in what was a very marginal student and made him read many of the classics like Anna Karenina. The marginal student was me.

I graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno with two BAs with a 3.71 and 3.73 GPA. And did almost as well with MA in Librarianship from the University of Denver. (Class of 1984)

Law school was a real struggle though as I tried to hide my speech problem and was a real misfit with respect to the social gamesmanship that seemed a big part of being a law student. I did find a number of good friends while in law school that got me through by helping me snag a job at the University of Minnesota Law Library as well as to become a Student Director for Legal Assistance to Minnesota Prisoners.

I got side tracked with my passion for helping survivors of violent crimes which was also inspired by Mrs. Mitchell after graduated in 1989 from Law School. That was through a tragedy that happened to her daughter Michelle while I was in her English class at Wooster High School in Reno, NV. Her daughter Michelle was murdered on my birthday of 2-24 in 1976 by three or four conspirators who tried to make it look like a serial killer was terrorizing Reno so that they could collect on a life insurance policy interest they had in another woman they murdered in February 1976. Michelle was a random victim.

I was introduced as the cataloger of all the WESTLAW computer files at a Law Library convention in Reno, Nevada in the Summer of 1989. The fate in the Law Library convention being in Reno, NV kind of seemed like a message. I am deeply religious in outlook so I took it as a sign that I needed to do something to help survivors of crimes get better access to practical information to heal.

There are more than one people on TOTV who have been diagnosed at one time or another as autistic.

Yes to everything you said. Our family member with the Asburgers Syndrome is a member of M.E.N.S.A. and a college graduate.
He's a male and totally non violent; devout Roman Catholic.
So very helpful to the family whenever or wherever he is needed.
Travels alone, lives alone.

Also, as you've said, and as I've read........Autism doesn't necessarily mean mental illness......although a person could have it.....just like anyone of us can have it.

Both the male above......and the two females (two different family lines) come down from a long line of German ancestors in Baaden Baaden Germany. They had familial relatives "in the past" that also had the same symptoms but were not "LABELED" as such. Mostly uncles.

These two "girls" were labeled back in elementary school........and put in a horticulture class. As I've said, hearts of gold............as you've said, flat personalities. One of the sisters, now in their 40's, writes to me all the time and never forgets a new birth as a gift giving occasion, a greeting card for a proper occasion, or good wishes on any occasion......so I'd say she has good manners as well........just cannot speak. That frustrates me no end and if I were closer I would have tried to help.........long story.

We have other young relatives who were so afraid to have their children vaccinated a few years ago due to the belief that something in the vaccines was causing a rash of autistic children to be born........
Perhaps it's just being diagnosed more......but many of the autistics they show on t.v. do speak and can learn.

One of my neices had "angel man" syndrome......when she was little she would run around flapping her arms. I'll look that up again.
But the ones I know were born in the 1960's and the male in 1946.

WE have friends with Downs Syndrome relatives who always say that they were the family's "greatest joy" in their love of everyone and appreciation for the simple things in life........

True mental illness is NOT retardation or a genetic defect. I always thought of my neices as having a form of genetic defect. I plan to do some research on it......soon. I did observe them from babyhood alongside of my little ones.......and they seemed to lag behind in various things..........but it's more the being unable to TALK that urges me to learn more.

Thanks for sharing Gracie.......

In a more perfect world:
1. There would be no graphic violence shown in any form.
2. Gun control legislation would be passed to ban weapons of mass destruction to the general public.
3. Mental Health Clinics would be subsidized properly.
4. People who have severe mental issues would work hard to resolve thier problem in a safe environment in whatever that form would be.
5. Proper medications would be dispensed to those that need them.
6. Programs would be developed to help stuggling people with children that have severe mental health issues.

These problems are complex and have many facets. I do not have the answers but a civil discourse to address these issues should take place for the well being of the general public.

Children have to right to a full life and should be protected form senseless tradgeies.

Selective mutism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia





This is quite involved. I haven’t looked it up in almost 40 years.


Back then there wasn’t much written on the subject; an occasional magazine article.

Autism spectrum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arm the teachers? that was the topic
 

Please look at the training SWAT members receive. Does anyone really think a teacher would have the skill or capacity to shoot before being shot. If you do then I suggest viewing a test of such a proposition. 20/20 trained college age men and women to "defend" themselves with handguns. They received more training than is required for a weapon permit. The result of their training including one person with lots of firearm experience...

'If I Only Had a Gun': Click Here for 20/20 Special | Video - ABC News

How well do cops do in a chaotic situation? In August there was a shooting in NYC near the Empire State Bldg. Police responded and nine people were shot in the confusion. All nine were shot by the NYC police accidentally.