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A defense lawyer for a 15-year old boy who raped a 10-year old boy and attempted to abduct a 9-year old girl for the same purpose distorted the symptoms of Asperger’s in order to blame the syndrome for the boy’s actions. He is quoted as saying

The symptoms are dislike of change, a preoccupation with patterns.

”In his case they are his preoccupation with farm machinery. Further symptoms he had are his interpersonal skills and, perhaps most importantly, an inability to see things from another’s viewpoint.

”It is those symptoms, coupled with his sexual urges, that led to these offences.

Indeed, difficulty seeing things from another’s perspective is one of the characteristics associated with an Asperger’s diagnosis, but to claim that this could cause someone to become a rapist is a distortion of what that means. Aspies are not sociopaths. We sometimes have trouble knowing what to say and when; we might take teasing or even physical play too far, because we have a hard time knowing what someone is feeling unless we are directly told. Something like rape is a hard line; it is very easy for us to recognize that it wrong, especially when it includes abduction.

As for the other symptoms mentioned, saying that poor interpersonal skills make a person a rapist is, of course absurd (though, perhaps, a sense of entitlement to gratification on top of that could be; a sense of entitlement is in no way associated with Asperger’s). And I can only assume that any implication that an obsession in farm machinery led to this is only an accident of rhetoric; such preoccupations are not only harmless but can also lead to important contributions in particular fields.

The problem with attributing this sort of heinous act to Asperger’s symptoms is that it further stigmatizes people who are much more likely to be victims of violent crime than to be its perpetrators. By making us something to be feared, it makes the work of creating a neurodiverse society that accepts our strange strengths for what they are that much more difficult.

Related posts:

1. I Am Autism
2. No More Asperger’s?

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