The Dangers of Misrepresentation

Lydia Brown autistichoya.blogspot.com Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian terrorist gunman who killed seventy-seven people in one day last summer, appeared in court yesterday morning as a psychiatrist declared that he likely “suffers” from Asperger syndrome and Tourette syndrome. One news article claimed that “Asperger’s is a developmental disorder on the autistic spectrum that often is characterized by a lack of empathy.”1 Another article paraphrased the psychiatrist and wrote that “Norwegian mass killer Anders Breivik has a rare, high-functioning form of Asperger’s that has left him incapable of empathy or real friendship.”2 Although even a peer-reviewed paper published as early as 19913 found no evidence for any correlation between violence and Asperger Syndrome — further finding that the incidence of violent behavior in those with Asperger’s is lower than the incidence in the total population — the media has continually and repeatedly conflated being Autistic with a propensity toward violent or…