queen of the night on Nostr: "When Elliot Rogers shot and killed six people in Isla Vista, California, in 2014, ...

"When Elliot Rogers shot and killed six people in Isla Vista, California, in 2014, Rogers’s Autism was presented by news outlets as a contributing cause. Autism was yet again blamed (along with transness) in the 2023 shooting at the Covenant School, just outside Nashville. At an NRA conference held shortly after the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, gun advocates echoed that 'evil' people and mental illness were the true cause. By explaining mass shootings as a phenomenon of mental illness rather than one of hopelessness, hatred, and easy access to guns, the NRA managed to effectively distance itself from holding responsibility for the ongoing crisis. And by linking mental illness and disability with violence, they managed to worsen the stigma that already leaves so many neurodivergent people lonesome and disaffected."

"From empirical research, we know that people with mental illness are far more likely to be in danger of violence than to be violent ourselves. We also know that mentally ill folks suffer from theft, sexual assault, battery, and police violence at extremely elevated rates. Nearly half of all people with mental illnesses experience at least one of those acts of violence in their lives. On the flip side, only 3 percent of all violent crimes are committed by someone with a mental health diagnosis."

Devon Price, Unlearning Shame: How We Can Reject Self-Blame Culture and Reclaim Our Power