ike everyone else, I was devastated when I learned about yet another high school shooting. Probably unlike most everyone else, I also became really upset when I learned that the shooter was believed to be autistic and to have ADHD. Why?
Because I am autistic, and I have ADHD.
There is no possible justification for what he did. There is no way to comfort the families or the students or the teachers. But there is also no justification for planting the seed that autism is the reason for this guy’s actions.
The reality is that people like me are way more likely to be the victim of crimes than the perpetrator.
I know that people sometimes think I’m weird because of the sounds I make or movements I can’t always control or when I just can’t handle the noise level or situation, so I’ve learned to just be upfront and unapologetic about who I am.
That’s why I can’t let this dangerous myth which is based on ignorance and false stereotypes just go by the wayside.
We may never really know Nikolas Cruz’s life story and what led him to this horrible darkness. And though we may share autism, that’s where our similarity ends.
I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have amazing family, teachers, and therapists — every possible support imaginable so that my future will be nothing like his, with the horror and heartache he created. But you can’t see that when you slap a single label across my forehead.
Now my upset is turning to anger too — like the righteous anger of the Stoneman Douglas High School students who are demanding an end to the real insanity.
It’s the insanity of people who, along with the craziness of their unacceptable and intellectually destitute arguments against change, belittle anyone who may be different or atypical in some way.
I refuse to use labels like “deranged monster” or “maniac”. Mental illness is just that — an illness, and Cruz’s unspeakable rampage is not simply the act of a mentally-ill person. It is the act of one who had access to weapons. That our leaders continue to allow this access is what deserves to be labelled “insanity”.
I live with a different form of insanity every day. It’s the insanity of ableism, of being just not quite different enough but still not fitting in; the insanity of having to battle just for a level playing field; the insanity of always having to work to fit into a “neurotypical” world and never having that world instead adapt to me — even for a single moment.
So I am going to stand with the students, raise my voice and join the chorus of my peers from across the political and diversity spectrum: #neveragain #MarchForOurLives
Jack Bradley is a junior at Craft Academy in Morehead, Kentucky, Chief Storyteller at JackBeNimble.org and the Inclusion Ambassador of the Prichard Committee Student Voice Team.
