The rush to blame autism after tragedies at schools

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I guess the standard bullying is bad enough to be concerned about, given that can lead and has led to PTSD and suicides. I wonder if schools have been successfully sued in the USA and if so what kind of settlements may have been awarded, and if this has happened, what action did the affected schools take afterwards to improve the provision of safe learning environment?

Bullying in schools only tends to get into headlines when parents take action. Schools can't be trusted to report upsurges.

PS I have since spent an arduous time reading the details of successful cases on a website called PublicJustice (USA cases) and the savagery of the attacks are deeply shocking. In almost every case, the victim was in a minority group. I was shattered by the degree of the cruelty and the inaction of the schools, who effectively colluded with what was institutionalised terrorism. I don't think I can ever visit the USA again after reading that. OMG.

I have no idea what the USA is doing about bullying in schools as I'm North of the border in Canada, but I can say that here things have started to evolve a lot over the last 5-10 years. There are a couple of different annual days where people wear purple shirts, and another that's pink shirts, and both are anti-bullying campaigns. Ultra locally there's a camouflage clothing day in memory of a teen who committed suicide a year or two ago & it's in recognition of mental health awareness. There are also gay straight alliances and all that stuff. Overall, even though s**t still happens between kids as it always has, I'd rate today's public schools across Canada as being the best they ever have been in terms of efforts made to minimize violence & bullying. They're still schools and they're still kids/teenagers, so of course schoolyard s**t still happens.. but overall I think kids today have about the safest school environments they've ever had what with people more likely to report bullying, or other kids more likely to call out a bully for being a bully etc.

In some ways I wouldn't want schools to become TOO soft & easy. Kids still need to toughen up a bit & realize that not everything in life is smooth sailing. If they're too cocooned and coddled they'll make for very easy prey as young adults - and the world will eat them alive. Still gotta maintain a balance vs. present some fanciful fairytale world where disagreements and violence never ever happen. No, I'm not promoting violence.. I'm just saying we don't need to overprotect every child, either, and that the pendulum can swing too far.

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No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

I normally wouldn't participate in such a discussion, because of my age, but I think that my being still in a high school will add something to the conversation. So first thing I want to say is that at least at my school no one cares that much about the news and it is discussed to seem mature. (Besides last presidential race, that was of interest to us.) So someone might say "Did you hear about the shooting?". And the person would reply "Yeah it's horrible." And the conversation would end. By the end of the day after it happened people were making jokes about it based on the fact it happened on valentine's day. What I'm saying is that not too many students actually care to follow up on a such a thing. I think the problem is social media. That will be the thing that will get students bullied. Some person will surely post something like "Autistic school shooters are causing more deaths than ISIS, anyone with autism should be locked up." and some people will be dumb enough to believe it. Now who will get bullied will depend on how visible their autism is. I'm not worried as I can pass for neurotypical, but I know a lot of autistic students can't. So in Florida there is going to be a lot of bullying, but elsewhere it depends on how many people are hearing about this development.

I should note that many American schools are on vacation this week. By the time school opens again the news will be onto something else. So we got luck on our side for once.

There is no one answer to how American schools treat bullying. American schools are usually locally controlled and different communities have different values. I have read instinces where the Football team protected the autistics and other stories where the school and the community sided with the bully. While all schools profess zero tolerance for bullying the words are often just public relations. School districts often cover up bullying out of fear of bad publicity and lawsuits. Out of fear of lawsuits a lot of districts have handed over enforcement of discipline to the police. Teacher unions have pushed this. A major problem is the bullies often have connected and well liked parents. School districts are loathe to upset a powerful local figure. Often the thinking goes something like “Joe and Sue are such nice people, the weird troublemaker kid must have done something to deserve it”.

Inner city school disctricts have had metal dectectors and armed guards since the 70’s. There have not been many if any Parkland type incidents in major cities. The gun violence in those locales are usually crime and gang related. Suburban and rural schools are harder to protect. You are going to need trained guards at all the entrences and parimeters. That would require a very steep rise in taxes.

Bullying was rampant when I was in school,I wasn't diagnosed then but was obviously "different" which attracted bullies.The teachers did nothing,absolutely nothing and reporting the bullies only made it worse.There were two girls that took turns punching me in the arm,I told the teacher and she just told them to stop,yeah,they didn't,they just hit harder.Kids stole my art,broke some of it,marked on the back of my new coat and more..
With social media and all the mean comments on it,kids can't even escape when they get home.
The only school I ever attended that was bully free and didn't tolerate it was a small private Seventh Day Adventist school.Have there been any shootings at the smaller private schools? It was a safe place for me and truly the only school I enjoyed attending.The price was reasonable,but many cant afford to send their kids to private school.
The only school I attended where kids shared their lunch with me instead of stealing mine.

I second BeeFarm’s post. Teenagers, at least all the teenagers I’ve seen and met, are all way to shallow to focus on news. They will acknowledge the awful tragedy for a few minutes after it’s mentioned, and then go on to discussing something like how they got a cool new (insert item here) and focus only on material, here and now things. Most of them aren’t deep thinkers and they just don’t care. The ones that do care a bit and are deep thinkers, they will most likely be more open if you decide to debunk their beliefs on autism.

A passing mention of autism probably won’t get the attention of the teens. A full on lashing article might but you can only counter bad media, you cannot prevent it from being posted and shared.

For those ASD teens lucky enough to have good friends, start by educating them. Even if it’s just a little bit. That might put up a ‘fire break’ so to speak.

Yes that is an issue that should be adressed, even if this shooter was diagnosed with ASD that is not a reason to point fingers at everyone with the disorder. Also though this shooter also is said to have had a history of harming/killing small animals and doing things like throwing rocks at a neighbors house...I don't think those are ASD things. Even if he was on the spectrum there were likely other things going on if all that is true. So yes I agree this is not a good reason to further ostracize people in general with aspergers.

Also though I think it is important to remember it is by no means just people with aspergers who were negatively effected...the surviving students are all likely traumatized, and many of them will probably develop PTSD.

Also if this shooter was not able to legally buy the weapon he did, would 17 people have been killed in this incident? From the sound of it a lot of his problematic behavior was on record at the time he bought the gun, yet he was still able to buy it? There is no reason someone with a history like that should have been able to purchase a weapon like that. And before anyone jumps down my throat to derail the thread I do not support a total ban on guns, so please do not debate me as if though that is what I suggest.

Well, besides posting on here, for all practical purposes, I want nothing to do with AS or any of my diagnosis in real life. I know that some people already may think I come off as "weird" or "different" behind my back or that there is "something wrong with me", so why should I encourage it more by talking to people about these things. Besides, I want to be recognized as just me, not someone who has a diagnosis. I am not for blanket scapegoating "NT" people for society's problems either.

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On the main topic, I am taking a class in Basics of US Government, we are sometimes lectured and have discussion about public events. One of the other students in my class brought up the issue of how we lack compassion for "mental health" patients. I absolutely had to agree 100% with her. I am saying this should apply to ASD individuals too, not just "true" mental illness sufferers.

So with that being said, do you think it's possible that all the mass scapegoating over violence with ASD and other disabilities and individuals are only feeding more of this sort of violence, mainly in schools?