Nick Starr-Street now is facing charges stemming from his harassment of black women at the apartment complex from which he’s been evicted. Shame on Michael Quander, however, for structuring his story in such a way as to frame autism as an excuse for racism.
“I’m autistic,” Star-Street said. “I just see right and wrong. I don’t see race. I don’t see gender. I don’t see color. I don’t see any of that.”
According to Ambitious About Autism, autism is often associated with “rigid thinking.”
“People with autism tend to be more all-or-nothing than most people: something is either absolutely not interesting or absolutely fascinating,” the website said.
The website also explained that some people with autism “do tend to think in fewer shades of grey.”
This is some serious bullshit “journalism” from WUSA, giving yet another bad name to reporters for local news channels, and I hope that Amibitious About Autism takes them to task for using them in this way.
Let me say it again: being autistic is not an excuse for racism, and if Quander was going to insist on including nonsense suggesting it does, he also should have included statements from experts explaining it doesn’t. Autism is not an excuse. Autism is not an excuse. Autism is not an excuse.