http://www.sussexautisticsociety.org/images/logo.jpgThis week we had to write an essay in the College Writing class about autism. One of my friends who is also taking the class had an interesting opinion on it. In her creative writing piece she described the thoughts of an autistic female in an asylum who committed suicide. The lady already killed a person and she was under close surveillance. Her essay was purely hypothetical, but I was wondering how much truth is there in this idea.
I cannot completely agree that an autistic person is capable of committing suicide. I see an autistic person as unable to adapt to the society. As we can see in the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, Christopher would have been able to kill a person, if he felt threatened by their presence. He would kill only in order to protect himself. The instinct of conservation has a greater input in his reactions than in normal people. Then, why would he kill himself? It does not make sense to me.
One argument I received was that they might feel pressure from the society, that they might feel threatened by their environment. How can this be true, when autistic persons live in their own world. They do not adapt to the society and sometimes they do not even understand what happens in the society. How can they feel pressure from something they do not understand or are not part of?
In conclusion, I believe an autistic person would not be able to commit suicide. What do you think?
