Summary: Trying to make sense of a horrible crime is often beyond logical processing and yet we try to do it anyway. We might question faith. We may look for scapegoats. We demand change and yet we're unclear on what exactly needs reform and how to implement it. As we try to process, images run through our heads. Thoughts we would rather not deal with surface despite attempts to redirect. Maybe we deflect our emotions. Maybe we break down in raw emotion so deep that we wonder if the hurt will ever stop. We internalize. We externalize. We grasp at straws. We wonder about cause, effect and correlation. The tragic Sandy Hook Elementary school shootings on 12/14/12 leave us searching for answers. They bring us as a community together mourning the loss of lives. The question is raised? Did Adam Lanza have Asperger's Syndrome? Was he on the autism spectrum? Was he mentally ill? Was he sociopathic? Was he schizophrenic? Did he just snap? What were the signs? How could this have been prevented? Individuals are searching for answers. That includes men and women, teenage and youth living daily with autism and Asperger's and co-morbid conditions. We fear an autism and violence correlation and how that will impact the way others view us and our children. We fear speaking up because of stigmatization. Autism Empowerment believes in promoting Acceptance, Enrichment, Inspiration and Empowerment within the Autism and Asperger communities. We work daily to destigmatize ASDs. Today John with Autism Empowerment interviews Karen Krejcha, Executive Director. She is a mom of two sons on the autism spectrum and has an Asperger's diagnosis. She has been carefully following the news and listening to the cries of men, women and children within and outside the autism community. She wants our community to come together in support. Please listen in.
