I couldn't agree with you more, Colin, especially as regards the
desparate need for socio-sexual counseling for people with ASDs
and LDs. Lynn Moxon, who works with ESPA, has done a lot of
very good work on this topic. There's also a small group in
Vancouver BC whose work I've been impressed with.
Unfortunately, research has shown that most parents and
professional carers are really reluctant to get into this area, for all
sorts of perfectly understandable reasons (i.e, are you
responding to someone's needs or giving them ideas? will you
know what to say or how to answer questions? how do you do
sex ed with non-verbal people?) There's been very little hard
research, just the one report from Scandinavia, which you may
have seen, some years ago as to the most basic issues, like
sexual preference, level of experience, and difficulties amongst
people with ASDs.
I do want to say one thing though... Remember when Tom
Berney's report on crime and AS kicked up a storm recently?
This kind of research can be misunderstood and misused,
especilly if (as Berney did) the people doing it are mnot careful
about the word they use or how their research is popularised.
Berney works with a very specific population of people with ASDs,
people who tend to have very serious difficulties and who have
not responded well to known interventions. He does get called in
when people with ASDs in the NE find themselves in the prison or
hospital system. That means what he reports about this
population does not characterise ALL people on the spectrum. If a
reporter didn;t understand that, it would be easy to use his
research to start a moral panic, which is the sort of thing that gets
innocent people locked up and mistreated.
Statistically, the NAS spokesperson was absolutely truthful--
people with ASDs are less likely to (I would add: knowingly and
deliberately) perpetrate violent criminal acts than people who do
not have ASDs, and are more likely to be victims of criminal acts.
I think anyone who the newspapers called on with a question like
this would be duty-bound to not rouse an unwarranted public
witch-hunt, as the papers have done in the case of schizophrenia,
where the facts are exactly the same. Yes, there have been
some well-known cases in which someone with schizophrenia
has killed, raped, or assaulted someone, but the vast majority of
people who do these things do not have schizophrenia, and
people who do have it are much more likely than the rest of us to
be the victim of a crime. And yet the tabloids, and even the
broadsheets, treat a diagnosis of schizophrenia like it means "evil,
delusional, violent person."
The British press is particularly nasty and misinformed on
disability issues (I teach journalism and am trying to do my bit to
alleviate this, but it's an uphill fight!) so it's essential that we are
careful about what representations we make to them. At the same
time, you're right, we need to do more to prevent bullying, ensure
that all our young people get accurate and wise info about
sexuality, and not ignore warning signs. It sure sounds like that
happened in this case. How sad, for the victim, both families, and
for a young person who will now lose his freedom.
BTW, I'll pass on your kind comments about her book to Jessica,
who is a friend of mine. I'm sure she'll appreciate it!
-- Mitzi
________________End of message______________________
Archives and tools for the Disability-Research Discussion List
are now located at:
www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/disability-research.html
You can JOIN or LEAVE the list from this web page.
|
