Published on 12, July, 2020
Trigger warning: knife crime and murder
I had not been following too closely the news reports about the tragic murder of Brianna Ghey. However on the news last night it stated that both of the accused are autistic and that has shocked me. This online news report states the the boy "has been diagnosed with selective mutism and autism spectrum disorder" and the girl "has traits of autism and adhd". They were described as 'high functioning' in court
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-67727331
I find it impossible to comprehend how any autistic person could be capable of such a premeditated heinous crime and then to lie about it afterwards.
The stigma against autistic people persists and news reports like this are not going to help with the negative perceptions some people continue to have. Sadly there are some people who believe that autistic people are in some way dangerous and should be locked away in institutions. Cases like this might damage public support for the NAS campaigns to release autistic people who are wrongly detained
That reminds me: I was surprised to hear the BBC use the term 'selective mutism' the other night when I thought that 'situational mutism' was the more accepted and correct way to describe that now. Even though what those two did was horrific beyond words, the term itself (irrespective of who its being applied to and what they've done) shouldn't be, well, selectively rolled back to a more outmoded way of saying it.
Perhaps the individuals concerned found it advantageous to be conveniently unable to speak.