That's what the media likes to portray anyway.
Like so many people all over the globe, I am still reeling from yesterday's horrific events in the U.S. The majority of us can't ever comprehend what would possess someone to do such a incomprehensible act - to not only murder, but to murder helpless, innocent children who had their whole lives ahead of them. Children who are filled with an innocence and purity that can only belong in the heart of a child.
Among all the talk about getting rid of 'the right to bear arms' in the U.S (A RIDICULOUS right I might add), there is now talk that the gunman had Asperger Syndrome. Asperger Syndrome is a form of Autism. It is a disability, in that it can disable people, or make it difficult to lead a 'normal' life. It is not a mental illness. Natural human response is to, of course, find a reason behind why someone would commit such an act. I get that. But nobody even stops to consider what impact this will now have on all adults and children with Asperger's or Autism all around the world. They will now be looked at by all, with a different pair of eyes.
I'm Arab by the way. And I'm black. And I'm Egyptian. Such a cocktail of genetics puts me in the 'terrorist' profile. I'm lucky though. I'm a woman and I'm not Muslim. I scrape through. But we all know that ever since terrorist attacks started to fill the media, Arabs and Blacks, as a whole, started to be looked at with a different set of eyes. Whether you like it or not, the media infiltrates our thinking. It is everywhere. You can't avoid it. It wasn't long before all I heard were jokes about my own people. To my face. People thought I scraped in though as being Aussie and Christian so maybe I might find those jokes funny too. I went along with them for people's sake but can I openly say, I don't find black jokes funny. Stop saying them around me!
Then there's the fear that is injected into so many people. Because black people that kill have an agenda. It's to wipe out the white people. Nobody ever talks about someone who takes part in a suicide bombing as being Autistic or having some other disability. Nobody even says that they weren't of sane body or mind. They had an agenda. They knew what they were doing.
But do they? If they do, then that's suggesting that people who kill, or kill themselves, are in that moment, sane, and of sound mind. If that's the case, then why is this something that most human beings can't even begin to imagine doing?
And now, I'm sad for all those with Asperger's or Autism. I'm sad for their parents and their loved ones. And I'm angry that the media has chosen to use it as an excuse for this man's behaviour. I'm pissed off that when someone now says "I have Asperger's" when they apply for a job, it will be no different to saying "I'm a muslim" They will now be looked upon with cautious, wary and judgemental eyes.
Some white people are disabled.
Some black people are disabled.
And some of each have an agenda.
And there's a rare few of us that do not have a sound mind. This is where I choose to place this man. Not as black or white. But as a human being who was not of sound body or mind. It's not because I feel sorry for this man. It's because labelling him as Asperger's is labelling everyone else with the syndrome and giving Asperger's a symptom that simply isn't true. And that's not fair. Not one little bit.
