According to his grandparents:
Yang-Sun revealed the eight-year-old was diagnosed as autistic soon after his family emigrated to the US.She said: “He was very quiet and only followed his mother and father around and when others called his name he just answered yes or no but never showed any feelings or motions.
“We started to worry that he was autistic – that was the big concern of his mother. He was even a loner as a child.
“Soon after they got to America his mother was so worried about his inability to talk she took him to hospital and he was diagnosed as autistic.”
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{ 5 comments }
I think this is potentially a huge issue in the future. And it is so complex. Someone like myself, who expresses behavioral traits that are “autistic-like” … I just call it borderline autism. It’s weird … I seem to be aware and have some control, even as I do these things.
Again, I’m a layman. But maybe it’s just some kind of anxiety disorder. Or maybe it’s all related to some deeper disease or condition. I know my behavior has evolved. I know I’m prone to obsessive compulsiveness. I’ve been diagnosed with PSC and UC, both autoimmune conditions. This is a profound mystery, which will be solved … some day.
Regarding violence in video games and movies resulting in violent behavior. I used to totally disregard that argument. Not anymore. I think there are a significant number of people — a growing number — who cannot distinguish video games from reality. Just think of all those autistic kids coming of age. It will be very interesting.
Refreshing actually to see the family of a killer not defending him. Most American parents won’t condem their children when they act in the most henious ways. Not even a peep of an appology from the parents of the Columbine killers, or of any of the families of the American born killers.
Typical western parents too readily come to the rescue and provide excuses for their children. Kids got to know that they will have to answer personally for their acts and that mommy and daddy aren’t going to go to bat for them if they screw up in ways that harm the community and shame the family.
As a father of an autistic boy, I can see this news is going to cause panic before it prompts understanding.
I suspect that Cho’s depression resulted from his not being able to understand the world, and bullying in school because he was different.
Cho’s parents were too poor to get him the help he needed when he was young. Overcoming / addressing autism is hugely expensive, and not always very effective.
Early intervention is crucial. In Asia, there (still) is a widespread ignorance about autism and it’s really only been understood in the USA for the last 10 years.
His parents are not to blame, and neither is he. All the hate in the video messages built up over 23 years of failure to understand or be accepted by society.
How do you stop this happening again? Diagnose and treat autism early. Address bullying. Get rid of the guns.
Anonymous:
I really don’t agree with you on any of your opinions about this case. You sound just as ignorant as the next so called “layperson”. What good are the parents if they couldn’t defend this disturbed child of theirs? And what good does it do for you to simply throw up your hands and use the oh well, “they were too poor” excuse.? The boy’s family had to be the only intervention he could get, but, apparently, even they failed him. And if they could not afford that they could have just as easily gone to a non-charitable organization for people with autism and their family and applied for some financial backing in order to help foot the cost of curing their son. But, they were too arrogant rather than ignorant to do this because it was embarrassing having a child with autism. And that’s all that is illiterate green-horn parents who thought only about themselves and their poor fractured little egos.
Cho almost certainly did have some form of ASD. I am on the spectrum and doing extensive research on him, it reminds me of myself. Cho’s life mirrors mine almost exactly. Life for me is nothing but a daily struggle and has been for the last 33 years. I would not wish a high functioning ASD disorder on my worse enemy. It is better to be severly autistic, at least then, you have no awareness of anything. If you have a high functioning ASD, you have all these desires for things you will never, ever get, ie relationships, sex, close friendships, etc., no matter what you do, or how hard you try, through absolutely no fault of your own, you want it, but when you try, there is such a defecit that you dig yourself into a deeper hole and become even more of a pariah. I have absolutely no blame for Cho on what he did, it was not his fault. I would even dare to say that it was the only thing he could do! Speaking as someone who lives with an ASD, I believe that it would be best for everyone if ASD children were all terminated at birth, would save a lifetime of misery.
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