How Far Does Your Sympathy Go With Autism?

[-Talbot-]

http://news.sky.com/story/damon-smith-jailed-for-leaving-bomb-on-jubilee-line-tube-train-10893731


After such an event I have none at all and he would have got longer if I were doing the sentencing.

[Mamyalynne]

Without guidance anyone on the autistic spectrum could develop a fixation for things injurious to themselves and others but I don't equate sympathy with autism.

The condition should never be used as an excuse.

[Smowball]

I know many many children with autism, mostly teenagers and they are generally some of the kindest, most polite young people that I know. I honestly don't think that autism in any way was to do with this mans fixation with guns, knives and ultimately bomb making. God forbid if that had detonated!!

[Old_Geezer]

Whatever type of mind someone has, they should only be out and responsible for themselves if capable of living in society properly. If he doesn't understand planing a bomb is wrong he must not be out of a care home.

If he is out then he is deemed as responsible for his actions as anyone else is. We are all limited to what our brain tells us is right, but for society to function we are all deemed to be responsible for our actions. I'm unsure what sympathy has to do with it or at least why it would be applicable here and not for what others do.

I suspect the 15 year stretch has something to do with the nature of the bomb. The article doesn't seem to say whether it would have done more than make smoke, and so there is a difference between being an idiot and frightening people, and actually maiming/killing them. In the reported circumstances I don't think I'd call for a longer sentence. I would wonder if a lifetime in care wouldn't be more appropriate though.

[ummmm]

I echo what Mamy says. My son is autistic and I wouldn't ever use it as an excuse for such things.

If the bloke was traveling on the tube he's high enough functioning to know right from wrong.

[Guilbert53]

It is known as the "Autistic Spectrum" for a reason, there are a whole range of symptoms that people with Autism have.

My wife works with autistic people (and our son has Dyspraxia) and my wife always says if you know one person with autism you know how it affects THAT one person, it can affect many different people in many different ways.

So don't say you have "no sympathy with autism" when you probably know almost nothing about it.

My wife works with some children with autism who are "non-verbal" but many others can speak with no problem, others with autism are knows as "runners" because if you don't keep hold of them they run off even into a road full of traffic, others will "chew" things like furniture, others have a fixation with things (one young person we know with autism loves space and the solar system and the ONLY thing he can talk about is that and always takes the conversation back to that.

Autism is a very complex illness.

[pixie374]

It is very complex and can cause fixations- often with weapons and death. It's quite likely this man wouldn't have done this without the autism- but impossible to tell. Either way, he is a danger though, whether he understands what's right and wrong will be up to psychiatrists to work out.
The most violent person we ever had on our dementia unit, turned out to have Aspergers (usually it's schizophrenia that's wrongly diagnosed). It's just too varied to generalise.

[mushroom25]

//Autism is a very complex illness.//

it's not an illness - but I'm sure you knew that.

[-Talbot-]

Guilbert53
So don't say you have "no sympathy with autism" when you probably know almost nothing about it.


Had a cousin with severe autism, (Peter) spent most of his life in a wheelchair, he died very young. So severe was his condition he used to frighten the life out of people who didn't know him. I of course knew he wouldn't hurt anyone.

Anyway I digress, this chap in the link was capable of building a bomb, if you are capable of that then you should receive the full weight of the law and as some have said it should not be used as an excuse.

[pixie374]

It would never be used as an excuse. It's only relevant in knowing the best way to deal with it.

[youngmafbog]

I'm with you Talbot.

These days defence briefs have latched on to these 'labels' to excuse all sorts of deeds. The problem with that is it reflects on those that truly suffer. (Not just talking autism).

I am surprised no one has tried it (not autism before anyone starts) for paedophiles, since they are clearly wired wrong so "can't help it"

[cassa333]

He is a high functioning autistic and I know a few of those.

Although as has been said one is not the same as every, fornthe most part high functioning autistics know right from wrong in the same way most other people do.

I read some time ago that the bomb he planted had shrapnel and high explosives in it so not just a smoke bomb.

I also saw a small clip of his police interview and he was giggling like a little school boy.

On a general level I have little time for excuses and mitigating plea.

[Kromovaracun]

From the Guardian's report on the story:

//Sentencing him, Marks said: “Quite what your motives were and what your true thinking was in acting as you did is difficult to discern with any degree of clarity or certainty.//

I think that's legalese for "w.t.f".

There are plenty of autistic people in the UK who manage not to endanger members of the public. I think we can afford them the dignity of prosecuting this person for his crime like an adult.

[Kromovaracun]

And yes cassa I read the same - it had ball bearings in it deliberately to cause shrapnel damage, just like the one in Manchester did.

I think perhaps when he says it was intended as a "smoke bomb" we can assume he is lying.

[jourdain2]

My sympathy goes quite a long way with the Autistic (it is a broad spectrum). The school I help out in has 23% autistic pupils, so I have some experience and my toleration has broadened as a result. The 'but' arises in this case. He is high-enough functioning to be able to foresee the result of his actions. I admit to being critical of some who 'use' their condition. I am critical of this person and he should be punished. Not absolutely sure about the sentence unless it is to be concurrent with mental care.

[chanel5]

A person on the autistic spectrum who is high enough functioning to be able to travel by tube on his own, coping with all the levels of difficulty involved in that action, should also be able to understand the difference between a "prank" (his own word to describe what he did) and a criminal action likely to maim or kill (which is what he actually did).
To cite his "autistic" condition as a reason for what he did gives the impression that all people with autism have difficulty knowing right from wrong. This is far from the case.
The label "autistic" describes such a myriad of conditions that it is impossible to generalise in relation to the actions or level of understanding of any one individual who carries such a label. To do so is to insult and denigrate all others who have been similarly labelled.