Lawyer claims QAnon Shaman is an aspie in offensive way

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ASPartOfMe
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19 May 2021, 6:50 am

The Hill

Quote:
A lawyer for self-described "QAnon Shaman" Jacob Chansley, who was charged after entering the Capitol on Jan. 6, said the world has not seen "propaganda" like it has in the past four-plus years since Adolf Hitler.

Attorney Albert Watkins made the comment to Talking Points Memo (TPM) while discussing his client’s case. Chansley was charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

Watkins told TPM that Chansley has Asperger’s syndrome, arguing that his client's mental state and the influence of former President Trump’s “propaganda” efforts would play a role in his case.

A lot of these defendants — and I’m going to use this colloquial term, perhaps disrespectfully — but they’re all f---ing short-bus people. ... These are people with brain damage, they’re f---ing ret*d, they’re on the goddamn spectrum,” Watkins told the outlet.

One charged, insensitive, and vulgar statement was all that was required to garner the needed attention to this important aspect of the January 6 defendants," Watkins wrote.

He said his pleas for "compassion and understanding" for the people involved in the events on Jan. 6 who have mental health issues and disabilities "have to date fallen on deaf ears.


Now the "QAnon Shaman" wants to use autism as an excuse: Hell no
Quote:
So now his lawyer is using what I'm going to call the Bumbling Aspie Defense (BAD): Stigmatize autistic people so your client can get away with a serious crime. I'm not suggesting autistic individuals are bumblers, to be clear. (I am myself autistic, and have interviewed subjects as diverse as Temple Grandin and Elmo the Muppet on this issue.) But in the eyes of certain people, perhaps, autism is perceived as an excuse for bumbling through life without being held accountable for your actions.

It's difficult to discuss those remarks calmly, especially since it sounds as if Watkins is being offensive and inflammatory on purpose.

But Watkins is offensively and dangerously wrong when he argues that autism had anything to do with Chansley's actions. Implying otherwise furthers the harmful stigma that people with mental illnesses or developmental disabilities are more likely to be criminals, when in fact they are more likely to be victims of crimes. (Watkins' use of slurs like "ret*d" and terms like "short-bus people" definitely does not help.) Even worse, it reinforces the notion that people who are neurodiverse are somehow "less than" when compared to people who are neurotypical — that we are not merely different but also "damaged."

This whole mess brings to mind Alek Minassian, a Canadian software developer who murdered 10 people in 2018 by driving his van into a crowded pedestrian area of Toronto. His reason, as stated in his online writings, was that he was angry about being involuntarily celibate. When it was time to face the legal consequences for his gruesome act of mass murder, however, Minassian's attorney argued that his client's "autistic way of thinking was severely distorted in a way similar to psychosis." Fortunately for people of common decency and common sense everywhere, that argument was rejected in court.

Hopefully the same thing will happen in Chansley's case. But even if it does, the underlying issue revealed by Watkins' comments will still remain. We live in a culture that too often assumes that something is "wrong" with people who are not neurotypical. So when such people get caught committing crimes — even crimes as different as vehicular homicide or joining a mob riot — less scrupulous attorneys can try to play to public prejudice (or misguided public sympathy, which is much the same thing) by claiming that they were somehow mentally broken.

Autistic people are not damaged. We are not criminals. The QAnon Shaman does not get to use my neurological difference as his shield. Psychological tendencies such as narcissistic feelings of shared omnipotence may well have played a role in why people like Chansley and hundreds of others found themselves storming the Capitol, but that was the result of choices they made, and perhaps their social and cultural circumstances, not because of how they were wired. Jacob Chansley is entitled to a strong defense, like any other criminal defendant. But if his attorney is going to throw neurodivergent people under the bus (short or otherwise) in order to get him off, he'd better be ready for us to call him out on it.


ASAN statement:
Quote:
This morning, Talking Points Memo published an article featuring quotes from Albert Watkins, an attorney representing Jacob Chansley. Chansley was a prominent participant in the invasion of the Capitol building on January 6th, 2021, which was intended to overturn the results of the 2020 Presidential election. Mr. Watkins has argued to the press that Chansley has “Asperger’s syndrome,” and went on to use deeply offensive language to characterize the rioters overall as having intellectual and developmental disabilities, saying to Talking Points Memo, “A lot of these defendants — and I’m going to use this colloquial term, perhaps disrespectfully — but they’re all f—ing short-bus people. These are people with brain damage, they’re f—ing ret—ed, they’re on the goddamn spectrum.”

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network is appalled by this statement.

To begin with, Mr. Watkins spoke about people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in a deeply prejudiced and harmful way. This, as Mr. Watkins pointed out, was disrespectful. More fundamentally, as ASAN has pointed out on many occasions, autism and other developmental disabilities do not cause white supremacist ideas, and they do not cause violence. People with intellectual and developmental disabilities are human beings with the agency to form our own beliefs, including abhorrent ones. People with disabilities also can make bad choices that cause harm. It is entirely possible that there were autistic people, and/or people with other intellectual and developmental disabilities, in the group that stormed the Capitol in January. But when a white autistic person commits acts of racist violence, that person’s racism, not their autism, is the cause.

Arguing that autism leads to violent acts further stigmatizes autism and leads to discrimination against autistic people — especially autistic people of color, who are more likely to be profiled as “threatening” due to racism and ableism and who face high rates of police violence, incarceration, and restraint and seclusion in schools. Scapegoating our community for the choices of white supremacists diverts public attention from confronting the role of racism in our society, and the role of white supremacy in the January 6th riot.

Mr. Watkins’ idea of a movement made up of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities apparently looks like the January 6th rioters. This is ignorant, hateful, and untrue. The self-advocacy movement has been led by people with intellectual disabilities — people Mr. Watkins denigrates as “short-bus people” and “ret—ed” — since its inception in the 1960s. The self-advocacy movement has been a powerful force for change, fighting for deinstitutionalization, self-determination, civic participation, and a better public perception of people with intellectual disabilities. That has included working to end the use of the r-word, and other slurs, to refer to people with intellectual disabilities. Mr. Watkins would do well to learn about the self-advocacy movement, its aims, and its long history of leadership of people of color.

As the trials of the rioters continue, it is likely that we will see more of this kind of bigoted argument, made in an attempt to protect white supremacists from the consequences of their actions. We must continue to speak the truth: that autism and intellectual disability neither cause nor justify white supremacist violence. We must continue to uplift the leadership of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, especially those of color. And we must keep our focus on ending the white supremacy that drives so much of what happens in the United States. The January 6th riot, while deeply horrifying, was not unique. It was part of a long legacy of white supremacy in our country, including systematic attempts to disenfranchise Black voters, police violence and mass incarceration disproportionately targeting communities of color, and countless other examples that must be confronted. ASAN will not allow our community to be used as a scapegoat to divert from this important work.


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carlos55
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19 May 2021, 8:48 am

Rather nasty language there hopefully he gets pulled up on it.

While I don’t like the white washing of autism in general that goes on these days there should be no place for calling people r**** or short bus people.

All disabled people should be treated with respect.


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19 May 2021, 11:05 am

Short Bus - Wikipedia

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A short bus is U.S. slang for a smaller school bus usually used for transporting disabled students.


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19 May 2021, 3:59 pm

I'm going on record to say, that I doubt the veracity of said claims of the QAnon Shaman, mainly because; often, people will look for a way to dismiss their behavior, not in all cases mind you.The way I see it, is unless; he has had an independent evaluation of such, I shall remain questionable of such



Jiheisho
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19 May 2021, 5:11 pm

Of course, intelligence is all relative:

Quote:
A lot of these defendants — and I’m going to use this colloquial term, perhaps disrespectfully — but they’re all f---ing short-bus people. ... These are people with brain damage, they’re f---ing ret*d, they’re on the goddamn spectrum,” Watkins told the outlet.


I have a feeling standing next to Mr. Watkins is going to make a lot of people look good.

There is one small detail that has been left out: autism is not an intellectual disability.



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19 May 2021, 5:20 pm

It doesn't seem that far-fetched that Jacob Chansley might have ASD.

It doesn't excuse his actions even if it might be a factor worthy of consideration.

It doesn't seem far-fetched that people with ASD might be statistically over-represented in Q followers. Based on posts by Q supporters who post here participating in that culture provides them with a welcoming social experience when they've often struggled to find companionship. Further, it's a special interest that also provides that social contact, so it fulfills two powerful motivators.

People who peddle this stuff and know it's all horses**t understand that there are people who are more vulnerable and don't care that they're feeding them disinformation because it drives clicks to their imageboard or likes on social media. In some cases they've monetized the disinformation itself and people trick themselves into believing they're just finding the real truth instead of being tricked into paying to participate in someone's LARP.

People who are vulnerable to this stuff get sucked in and taken advantage of by cynical people who know it's all fake and then the new dupes serve to further recruit and best of all, they're true believers so they'll be more sincere when they sell it.


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funeralxempire
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19 May 2021, 5:22 pm

Jiheisho wrote:
There is one small detail that has been left out: autism is not an intellectual disability.


Right, but there's almost certainly people with intellectual impairments, brain damage, mental illness, etc represented among the insurrectionists as well, alongside folks with ASD (and obviously folks who aren't in any of those categories as well).


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19 May 2021, 5:50 pm

funeralxempire wrote:
Jiheisho wrote:
There is one small detail that has been left out: autism is not an intellectual disability.


Right, but there's almost certainly people with intellectual impairments, brain damage, mental illness, etc represented among the insurrectionists as well, alongside folks with ASD (and obviously folks who aren't in any of those categories as well).


Those in and of themselves does not absolve you of responsibility.



funeralxempire
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19 May 2021, 6:00 pm

Jiheisho wrote:
funeralxempire wrote:
Jiheisho wrote:
There is one small detail that has been left out: autism is not an intellectual disability.


Right, but there's almost certainly people with intellectual impairments, brain damage, mental illness, etc represented among the insurrectionists as well, alongside folks with ASD (and obviously folks who aren't in any of those categories as well).


Those in and of themselves does not absolve you of responsibility.


I don't believe I've ever suggested it would absolve one of responsibility.

It would be relevant when considering how to sentence though.


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Jiheisho
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19 May 2021, 6:53 pm

funeralxempire wrote:
Jiheisho wrote:
funeralxempire wrote:
Jiheisho wrote:
There is one small detail that has been left out: autism is not an intellectual disability.


Right, but there's almost certainly people with intellectual impairments, brain damage, mental illness, etc represented among the insurrectionists as well, alongside folks with ASD (and obviously folks who aren't in any of those categories as well).


Those in and of themselves does not absolve you of responsibility.


I don't believe I've ever suggested it would absolve one of responsibility.

It would be relevant when considering how to sentence though.


I am not saying you did say that. I simply pointing out that using a defense based on a condition is not easy. How it factors into a sentence is a bit more complex as there are sentencing guidelines that might not take those into account.



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19 May 2021, 7:08 pm

Nope....the guy should be fully prosecuted. It's not like he didn't know what he was doing.

The defense......has to come up with some "defense."



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20 May 2021, 4:55 am

Gah, defense lawyers.
See what he's done?
He makes it clear that the defendant might have some kind of mental incapacity - at the same time he uses denigrating language towards those with mental incapacity, which makes people automatically feel bad for how they are treated - plus he turns everyone's attention onto himself and what a prick he is, instead of on what his client has done.
The defendant gets sympathy, the lawyer gets renown and a pay-check, and the only people who lose out are all of us law-abiding autistics, with yet another offense chalked up to the nature of our condition.
*sigh*



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07 Jul 2021, 3:31 pm

 QAnon Shaman loses 3rd bid for jail release 

The Capitol rioter known as the "QAnon Shaman" will remain behind bars while he awaits trial.  A federal judge ruled on Tuesday (2021-07-06) that Chansley could still potentially flee if he were to be released pending trial.  The judge noted that Chansley had carried a flagpole with a spear as a weapon into the Capitol.  He also said that given Chansley's prominence in the QAnon movement, he could quickly raise large amounts of money if he wanted to flee.


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17 Nov 2021, 1:33 pm

 QAnon Shaman Sentenced to 41 Months In Prison 

Jacob Chansley, the so-called "QAnon Shaman", was sentenced to 41 months in prison for his role in the January 6, 2021 coup attempt to put Donald Trump back in office.

:D


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17 Nov 2021, 6:44 pm

Always nice to read about the spurious autism defenses failing.


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