Ok I'm going to be honest, I read the first three sentences of the original post. This is a topic I am extremely sensitive with in many ways. First off I am the mom of a 6 and a 7yr old. Those are the ages of the children who were killed in the Connecticut school shooting. My 7 yr old is Autistic which is another sensitive topic. Third thing I am labeled as having a mental illness.
Mental Illness already has a major stigma that many of us advocate and educate to reduce. It seems whenever something this terrible happens “mental issues” are to blame and now that Autism is in the forefront this is being added to the list of issues to blame when one or more particularly Americans can’t take society and do something totally outrageous. Many people in this country are ignorant when it comes to mental health and Developmental education. If one were to research statistics they would see that both people who suffer from mental health and developmental issues are more likely to be the victim of a crime rather than the perpetrator.