Several people within our community and the media have been rallying around the case of Gary McKinnon - a cracker who broke into US military, academic and NASA servers due to his belief in a UFO coverup.

Many rallying around this cause have drawn attention to the issues of extradition and fair trial issues - this is something that it is not my place to comment on. However, many have taken to portraying this as an autism rights issue:



As far as I am concerned, anyone promoting this as an autism rights issue is damaging our cause - by implying that Gary should be given different preferential treatment due to his diagnosis of aspergers they are automatically implying that aspergers/autism makes him less culpable for his actions. I have seen many such comments along the lines of "he has aspergers, go easy on him" in petitions related to this.

When so many media stories have portrayed aspies as violent criminals unable to control their actions, or as incapable of thinking through the consequences of their actions, this kind of activity does immense harm.

Every time an autistic individual is claimed to be unable to control their actions in criminal cases, this increases prejudice against all of us.

Gary's case may have issues relating to unfair extradition and related matters that would apply to someone of any neurotype - these matters are ones that should be drawn to the attention of the authorities. His diagnosis should not have any relevance.

A closing thought:
If Gary was black would we see the "london black civil rights movement" protesting his extradition? If he was gay would we see gay rights protesters?