Mother of Child with Asperger’s: ‘Autism Is Not an Explanatory Factor in [Adam Lanza’s] Actions’

The Takeaway

As conversations about the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut begin to center around guns and mental health, one woman is advocating a careful look at the latter.  Emily Willingham has a son who is diagnosed with Asperger syndrome. She said:

“No one knows as of this writing what drove the Connecticut shooter to kill 20 children and 7 adults, point blank, although obvious candidates are rage, hate, a huge grudge against humanity, and some triggering event. But if he turns out to have been someone on the spectrum, I’d like to remind everyone that autism is not an explanatory factor in his actions.”

Willingham wrote a blog post arguing her case. You can read it here.

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