Various connections have been made between violence and autism within social narratives. According to public opinion, violent behavior is common for autistic individuals, but evidence does not support autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as a predisposition to delinquency or crime. Autistic people are likely to be victims of bullying, abuse and other violence.

Violence against autistic people

14-year-old autistic adolescent in sensory withdrawal (or shutdown).

Autistic individuals are often victims of violence, including bullying, abuse, sexual assault and criminal acts.[1] Violence can be physical or verbal,[2] as illustrated by the frequent use of the word "autistic" as an insult.[3][4] Autistic people, like many people with disabilities, are often victims of hate crimes, and many live in fear.[5]

A 2003 study found that children diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome were more likely to be victims of violence than tormentors.[6] Violence against non-verbal autistic people is also facilitated by the fact that they are unable to talk about it and report it:[7] in general, the more a person is considered to be "in a weak situation", or as a "severe" case, the more vulnerable they are to violence and exclusion.[8] Dependence is an aggravating factor, especially if daily assistance is required for everyday activities such as meals and washing.[9] The "seriousness" of the disability can thus be invoked to justify all types of violence, including murder.[10]

In schools

Bullying is "the most common form of violence among children and adolescents", according to Park, et al. (2020).[11] Students with ASD are victims more often than other students; the prevalence of being victimized is higher than being a perpetrator of bullying.[11]

In the family environment

Engraving showing a person keeping a changeling in chains.
The changeling myth was once used to justify the abandonment and murder of autistic babies and children by their biological families.[12][13]

Familiar abuse against autistic children does not appear to be more frequent than familial abuse against allistic children.[14]

However, cases of infanticide, usually committed by the mother of the autistic child,[15] have been documented.[16] Dozens of murders have been reported in the Western press over the past decade, particularly in the Canadian press.[17] The Autistic Self Advocacy Network notes 36 in 2012, all involving people with disabilities, primarily autism. Each murder case is treated individually, but the general motive given for each is "autism" or "living with autism".[18] Testimony on this subject emphasizes the supposed severity of autism and the despair it is thought to generate.[19]

A form of extreme violence, the murder of autistic people by their relatives is justified by the bad public perception of autism, assimilated to a "lifelong pathology" that should be fought.[20] Some of this violence results from the medical model of autism, which promotes a vision of autism as a disease to be eradicated or an abnormality to be normalized. The extreme violence is illustrated by the accounts of murderers who want to "kill autism" in the hope of making their loved ones "normal".[21]

Social class seems to be a predisposing factor to murder, as the infanticidal mothers did not have the financial resources to receive effective support for their disabled child.[22]

Distress mischaracterized as violence

According to Anne-Sophie Ferry, "Autism is not characterized by violence or outbursts of anger", though the latter sometimes results from communication difficulties or accumulated distress.[23] Institutionalized non-verbal autistic adolescents may express violent behaviors such as spitting or biting, without understanding their actions.[24]

Some behavioral characteristics of autistic people are wrongly interpreted as violence by those around them, including dislike of physical contact, lack of eye contact, and lack of response to parents' voices.[7] Non-verbal autistic people may have inappropriate behavior in terms of force and impact on the other person, leading them to be mistaken for violent behaviors.[24]

Further, autistic people's sensory hypersensitivities can trigger reactions that are perceived as violent. Autistic Individuals may attempt to cope with sensory overload by impulsively releasing it through actions such as avoidance or clawing gestures, often without considering the potential for violence; this violence is not intended to harm others but rather as an effort to regulate their sensory experiences.[24]

Criminal and delinquent behavior

Anders Behring Breivik's digital portrait

No evidence exists suggesting an association between ASD and delinquency, and the delinquency rate is lower among autistic individuals than among allistic individuals.[25]

Individual cases of autistic criminals do not provide generalization of a predisposition to violence to the entire autistic community.[26]

A psychological profile of two mass murderers sometimes considered autistic, Adam Lanza and Anders Behring Breivik, found that their actions were not explained by autism alone but rather by the intertwining of various factors, including the association between ASD and narcissistic personality disorder, which forms "a particularly 'explosive' combination that increases the risk that an autistic individual may engage in extremely violent behavior".[27] Anders Breivik was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, narcissistic personality disorder, and antisocial personality disorder.[28]

Jeffrey Dahmer, a cannibalistic and necrophiliac serial murderer, was retrospectively diagnosed with Asperger syndrome in 2002,[29] but the accuracy of that speculative diagnosis has been questioned.[30]

Social perception

A popular view associates autism with inappropriate behaviors, violence,[23] delinquency, and crime in the English,[26] French,[31] and German media.[32]

Robert Chapman argued in 2017 that a bias exists in the way information about violence in autism is processed: violence experienced against allistic people from autistic people may receive more attention, whereas violence experienced by autistic people is invisible, or considered "normal", leading to "a collective cultural failure to recognize violence against autistic people as a significant and pressing socio cultural issue".[33]

Media portrayals of autism and violence negatively influence public opinion on autism[26] and foster negative impressions of autistic people by linking ASD with criminal behavior.[34] For example, an analysis of 100 French and Italian works of children's and young people's literature published between 1995 and 2005 featuring a main character with a disability found that autistic people are presented as violent.[35] The film The Specials has a line that autism educators "take a beating all day".[36] The American film The Accountant (2016), which features an obsessive, empathy-less autistic accountant operating as a contract killer, has been called offensive to autistic people, in part because of the violence it exhibits.[37]

Beyond fictional characterizations, news sources may perpetuate the connection between autism and violence. For instance, an American mass murderer was immediately labeled as autistic in the French media on December 14, 2012.[38] Individual cases of autistic people versed in cybercrime[39] and terrorism[40] have also been documented in the press.[26]

Activists for the rights of autistic people oppose the media exposure of a relation between autism and violence,[41][42] arguing that social discrimination is already a source of suffering for this population.[41] Activists began to document acts of violence committed against autistic people in the 2000s, calling for a political response.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Trundle, Grace; Jones, Katy A; Ropar, Danielle; Egan, Vincent (May 2022). "Prevalence of Victimisation in Autistic Individuals: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis". Trauma Violence Abuse. 24 (4): 2282–2296. doi:10.1177/15248380221093689. PMC 10486169. PMID 35524162. S2CID 248553233.
  2. 1 2 McGuire (2016b, p. 93)
  3. ↑ Jourdan, Camille (13 March 2017). "Comment " autiste " est devenu le nouveau " trisomique "". Slate. Retrieved 14 March 2017.
  4. ↑ Jurecic, Ann (May 2007). "Neurodiversity". College English, National Council of Teachers of English. 69 (5): 421–442. JSTOR 25472229.
  5. ↑ Beadle-Brown, Lisa; Richardson, Julie (January 2014). "Living in Fear: Better outcomes for people with learning disabilities and autism". University of Kent. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  6. ↑ Tsatsanis, Katherine (2003). "Outcome research in Asperger syndrome and autism". Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America. 12 (1): 47–63. doi:10.1016/s1056-4993(02)00056-1. PMID 12512398. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  7. 1 2 Raffin, Cinzia (2001). "La violence qui se cache derrière le problème de l'autisme, The violence hidden behind the problem of autism, La violencia escondida detras del problema del autísmo". Thérapie Familiale. 22 (1): 21–38. doi:10.3917/tf.011.0021. ISSN 0250-4952.
  8. ↑ McGuire (2016b, pp. 101–102)
  9. ↑ McGuire (2016a, p. 213)
  10. ↑ McGuire (2016a, p. 216)
  11. 1 2 Park, I; Gong, J; Lyons, GL (November 2020). "Prevalence of and Factors Associated with School Bullying in Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Cross-Cultural Meta-Analysis". Yonsei Med J. 61 (11): 909–922. doi:10.3349/ymj.2020.61.11.909. PMC 7593096. PMID 33107234.
  12. ↑ Rodríguez, Ana María (2011). Autism Spectrum Disorders. Twenty-First Century Books. pp. 23–25. ISBN 978-0761358831.
  13. ↑ Valletutti, Peter J.; Sims-Tucker, Bernita M. (1984). Severely and Profoundly Handicapped Students: Their Nature and Needs. P. H. Brookes Publishing Company. p. 334. ISBN 0933716338.
  14. ↑ Zittoun, Catherine (2015). Sommes-nous bientraitants avec nos enfants ? [Are we treating our children well?] (in French). Doin. p. 322. ISBN 9782704014743.
  15. ↑ McGuire (2016a, p. 209)
  16. ↑ Alt, Betty L.; Wells, Sandra K. (2010). When Caregivers Kill: Understanding Child Murder by Parents and Other Guardians. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 34. ISBN 978-1442200791.
  17. ↑ Timimi, Sami; Mallett, Rebecca; Runswick-Cole, Katherine (2016). Re-Thinking Autism: Diagnosis, Identity and Equality. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. p. 336. ISBN 978-1784500276.
  18. ↑ McGuire (2016a, pp. 199–202)
  19. ↑ McGuire (2016a, pp. 201–220)
  20. ↑ McGuire (2016b, p. 99)
  21. ↑ McGuire (2016b, pp. 102–104)
  22. ↑ McGuire (2016a, pp. 210–211)
  23. 1 2 Le Callennec; Chapel (2016). Autisme: La grande enquête. Préface de Josed Schovanec [Autism: The big survey] (in French). Paris: Les Arènes. ISBN 9782352045298.
  24. 1 2 3 Lheureux-Davidse, Chantal (2014). "Manifestations violentes chez les adolescents autistes sans langage verbal en situation groupale [Violent manifestations in autistic adolescents without verbal language in a group situation]". Handicap et violence (in French). ERES. pp. 165–178. ISBN 9782749243115.
  25. ↑ Rutten, A. X.; Vermeiren, R. R. J. M.; Van Nieuwenhuizen, Ch. (22 September 2017). "Autism in adult and juvenile delinquents: a literature review". Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health. 11: 45. doi:10.1186/s13034-017-0181-4. PMC 5609035. PMID 28947914.
  26. 1 2 3 4 Maras, Mulcahy & Crane (2015, p. 515)
  27. ↑ Allely, Clare; Faccini, L (23 June 2017). "A Conceptual Analysis of Individuals with an Autism Spectrum Disorder" (PDF). Journal of Forensic and Crime Studies. 1 (1).
  28. ↑ Faccini, L.; Allely, C. S. (2016). "Mass violence in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Narcissistic Personality Disorder: A case analysis of Anders Breivik using the "Path to Intended and Terroristic Violence" model". Aggression and Violent Behavior. 31: 229–236. doi:10.1016/j.avb.2016.10.002. ISSN 1359-1789. S2CID 152223832. Retrieved 16 May 2017.
  29. ↑ Silva, JA; Ferrari, MM; Leong, GB (November 2002). "The case of Jeffrey Dahmer: sexual serial homicide from a neuropsychiatric developmental perspective". Forensic Sci (6 ed.). 47 (6): 47–59. PMID 12455663.
  30. ↑ Palermo, Mark T; Bogaerts, Stefan (December 2015). "The Dangers of Posthumous Diagnoses and the Unintended Consequences of Facile Associations: Jeffrey Dahmer and Autism Spectrum Disorders". Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol. 59 (14): 1564–79. doi:10.1177/0306624X14550642. PMID 25209624. S2CID 24932162.
  31. ↑ Gravillon, Isabelle (20 May 2016). "La France peut mieux faire". L'École des parents: 27–34. ISSN 0424-2238.
  32. ↑ Schmidt & Sachs (2014)
  33. ↑ Chapman, Robert (27 July 2017). "We need to talk about the domestic abuse of autistic adults". The Establishment. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  34. ↑ Brewer, Neil; Zoanetti, Jordana; Young, Robyn (1 January 2017). "The influence of media suggestions about links between criminality and autism spectrum disorder". Autism. 21 (1): 117–121. doi:10.1177/1362361316632097. PMID 27132012. S2CID 3460552.
  35. ↑ Laurence, Joselin (14 August 2014). Reprèsentations plurielles des héros en situation de handicap dans la littérature de jeunesse. ERES. ISBN 9782749237312.
  36. ↑ "[Film] Hors normes : quand l'autisme crève l'écran". Le Média Social. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  37. ↑ Haagaard, Alexandra (17 October 2016). "How 'The Accountant' Victimizes The Autistic Community". The Establishment. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  38. ↑ Wacjman, Claude (6 February 2014). "Que nous enseigne la controverse sur l'autisme?". Psychologie Clinique. 36: 8–30. doi:10.1051/psyc/201438008. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  39. ↑ "Londres : 8 ans de prison pour le cyber-terroriste ultra connecté". Ouest-France. 2 May 2017. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  40. ↑ "Londres : un étudiant autiste coupable d'avoir posé une bombe dans le métro". Le Figaro. 3 May 2017. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  41. 1 2 Lutz, Amy S. F. (17 December 2012). "Don't Be Afraid of People With Autism". Slate. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  42. ↑

Bibliography

Further reading

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