Police taser 12 year old with Aspergers

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See http://www.news.com.au/national/police- ... 6127422146

The way they describe Aspergers is really dodgy. I quoted the worst bit below.

"A 12-year-old boy with a serious and frightening mental disorder had to be subdued with a Taser by police, it has emerged.

The boy, who was reportedly diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome which manifested itself in bouts of severe paranoia, was allegedly armed with a meat cleavers, an axe and knives when police were called to his at Ipswich on Sunday afternoon."

The article doesn't seem to be very clear as to WHY he was carrying those things, or why the police see him as a danger. Sure, he was carrying a meat cleaver, but there's probably something else going on here.
If he was going to attack someone, there would be no excuse. Regardless of the condition, (not 'Frightening Mental Disorder') he should know the difference between right and wrong at that age.
They mentioned that he was suffering from 'severe paranoia'. This makes me think that he may have had other lets say 'difficulties' besides aspergers.
It just seems like a way for the media to say 'autism is dangerous' because it sounds good on print.
I don't know, the article is too short and brief for me to really say anything.

Last edited by kornchild on 01 Sep 2011, 7:54 am, edited 1 time in total.

Paranoia? I have experienced quite a few things but I have never been paranoid. If I were in Australia, I would be contacting the news organization and demanding that they set the record straight on that one.

Sounds like they want to make the media over there be much like what Canada and half of the EU Countries want to see it, make more fear of people with Aspergers, in other words, more abuse and discrimination again.

It would be nice if they'd said he had "a serious and frightening mental disorder" and went on to note that he was also diagnosed with Asperger's. As written, it could be interpreted either way... which is not what you want when reporting news. It's great if you're reporting "news", though...

I've never experienced 'bouts of severe paranoia' either. The biggest problem is that they actually wrote that Aspergers causes paranoia. Good idea to contact the news organisation, though I don't know if they will listen.

What a POS article. Since when is severe paranoia is now a diagnostic criterion for AS?

Sounds like the reporter was lazy and only talked to the police spokesman/police-dept-lawyer for the story.

I don't think people should be surprised that AS gets described as a "dangerous psychiatric disorder," when it's to the advantage of someone else (who is "normal") to do so, though. Most of society draws a line with "psychos" on one side and them on the other, and they don't care about the details.

I am deeply disturbed by how this article has been written and how it can easily be misinterpreted. Btw, if the mom knew that the boy was a potential harm to others, then why the hell didn't she do anything about it sooner?