Adam Lanza...Not the Face of Autism

     The past couple of days I have been assaulted with a barrage of Facebook posts referring to the "somewhat autistic" man who murdered innocent children and adults Friday morning at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Conneticut.  According to the media, there is now a public face to Asperger's Syndrome, a disorder on the autism spectrum. 
     I have seen Facebook posts saying that "medication is not the answer" and that kids with these issues need their "butt's beat."  I have read posts calling children with mental illness or disorders  'disturbed.'  I have also seen it claimed that medication is being crammed down the throats of these children.  These Facebook 'soapboxers' don't seem to be aware that there is no medical/medicinal treatment for Autism.  We are not pumping our Aspies or other children on the spectrum full of pills.  What would be the point, unless they also suffered from another ailment that required medication?
     My 12 year old son has Asperger's, and he is not 'disturbed'.  He is intellegent, creative and loving.  I am very 'disturbed' myself at hearing my own family members speak of autistic people in this manner.  Yes, the 20 year old man that killed those people was probably evil, but it was not because of Autism.  He probably had other severe mental disorders that were left untreated or maybe he was abused.  And spanking a mentally ill person will not help, it will likely make them worse.  Could anything have stopped this tragedy from happening?  Probably not.  But we don't know these answers and we might not ever know why this horrible thing happened.  What we can take a moment to let the world know that Adam Lanza is NOT the face of Autism.