Please stop blaming Asperger's for Mitt's nastiness!

[tblue37]

35. I don't expect everyone to know everything I know--I just think that

if they don't know abotu something, they shouldn't sling the terminology around as though they do.

I am appalled because people with Asperger's are being insulted by the claim that nastiness like Romney's is to be expected from those with Asperger's.

I would be equally appalled if someone's ugliest personality traits or vices were said to be caused by his having, say, MS, or hearing loss, or visual impairments, or any other condition that is somewhere outside of what most people would call "normal."

It is the association of Asperger's with insulting, vicious personality traits that appalls me, because it paints as typically having such traits a group of people who are even less likely than most to have such traits.

In the same way, associating adults with developmental disabilities with violent acting out (which was commonly done in the past and is still done all too often today) led people to isolate and avoid such people, for fear that they might attack them.

If people get the idea that those with Asperger's tend to get nasty and insulting as a consequence of their syndrome, that will reinforce prejudices against them and unfair treatment of them. I consider that a good enough reason to be appalled!