Speakout: Criminality, autism incomparable

Nancy Cason and Sandy Shaw

Published August 7, 2006 at midnight

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Regarding your article of July 28, with the sub-headline "Psychiatrists, others find commonality in criminals' minds," it was shocking to read that there are actually people out there who would make an association between individuals with autism and the likes of Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy.

The article was vague in conveying any understanding of autism at all and the comparison seemed nothing more than a sweeping generalization taking advantage of the fact that autism has been in the news a lot lately.

While the doctor credited with making the comparison seems to know what makes mass murderers tick, his knowledge of autism appears to be cursory, at best.

Autism or "Autistic Disorder" is a complex neurological disorder that, simply put, impairs individuals' ability to communicate and understand social norms. They will also generally possess restricted, repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests and activities.

Autism is referred to as a "spectrum disorder," which attempts to describe the disparate levels of functioning in society and cognitive abilities. Individuals with Asperger's Disorder, often mistakenly referred to as "high-functioning autism," possess neither the language delays in early childhood nor delays in cognitive development associated with Autistic Disorder.

As with any neurological dysfunction, people with autism may have symptoms that overlap or are co- occurring with other disorders. For example, many criminals meet criteria for a diagnosis of Antisocial Personality Disorder. All personality disorders have a component of significant social dysfunction. This does not mean that if you have social dysfunction you also have autism.

Yes, some people with autism can be obsessive. Yes, some people with autism can be aggressive. And, of course, they have problems with social functioning. But it is an incredible leap in logic to make a connection between autism, a developmental disorder, and the types of personality disorders that lead some people to kill.

It makes about as much sense to conclude that children who don't eat lima beans will be more likely to commit murder in adulthood if we were to find that nine out of 10 murderers didn't like lima beans. Just because people share one characteristic doesn't mean any other relationship is valid.

In fact, most individuals with autism lack the highly developed executive function abilities necessary to plan and execute a single "pre-meditated" murder without being caught, let alone a series of such crimes. Executive function refers to the skills required to plan, organize, strategize, manage time, sequence and problem-solve toward a goal.

Therefore, many adults with ASD are unable to live or work without significant support and accommodation from others.

This sort of simplistic confusion is reminiscent of the types of diagnoses children with autism received a half century ago when they were mistakenly said to be suffering from childhood schizophrenia.

The psychological community has worked hard to understand autism and to help these individuals become accepted in society. This type of irresponsible reporting on the basis of one unfounded hypothesis undermines the work we've done over the past 50 years and has a real, lasting effect on how the general public perceives these individuals.

Readers who would like to learn the facts about autism spectrum disorders can call the Autism Society of Colorado at 720-214-0794 or visit www.autismcolorado.org and the Autism Society of America at www.autism-society.org.

Nancy Cason holds a doctorate in psychology. She is a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice in Denver. Sandy Shaw also holds a doctorate. She is a licensed clinical psychologist in San Diego and is the director of Applied Interventions & Methodologies Inc., an agency serving individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

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