Kyle Echakowitz’s heart sank upon hearing the news.

This week’s van rampage on Yonge St. and reports the man allegedly behind the carnage has a form of autism called Asperger syndrome, sent Echakowitz’s mind racing back to 2012 when another autistic man shot 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.

“It feels like a bit of a repeat of Sandy Hook. And now it’s here. And very close to home,” said Echakowitz, 20, who was also diagnosed with Asperger’s and uses the term “autistic.”

Back then, like today, Echakowitz, who identifies as non-binary and uses the pronouns “they” and “them,” spoke to reporters about autism, a complex, neurobiological disorder that affects communication and social interaction.

“I had to plead with non-autistic folks that we’re not a violent group of people, which is a very awkward thing for a 15-year-old kid to do,” Echakowitz said.

“When you grow up autistic, you don’t really get a chance to be a kid. You have to be more mature by default. Because otherwise, the entire community gets misrepresented. And you get blamed for it,” Echakowitz added.

This week, it’s not just people on the spectrum Echakowitz is defending. Echakowitz and Alek Minassian also went to the same high school, Thornlea Secondary, where they were classmates in a special education class for students with autism spectrum disorder. (Asperger’s, was dropped as a subcategory of the disorder in 2013 and is now defined as autism spectrum disorder, or ASD.)

Minassian, 25, of Richmond Hill, is facing first-degree murder charges in the deaths of 10 people, and attempted murder charges for 13 others injured in the attack.

A 20-year old Thornhill resident on the autism spectrum who attended a special education class for autistic students at Thornlea Secondary School where Alek Minassian was also a student.

Echakowitz was in Grade 9 in 2011 when Minassian was in Grade 12.

The class, called “learning strategies” was a welcome refuge for kids on the spectrum, Echakowitz recalled, adding autistic behaviours, including arm flapping and other repetitive movements, were understood for what they are: self-calming and focusing strategies.

“We see in the media . . (non-autistic) classmates of Alek making some comments that really show just how much misconception there is around autism and what it means to be autistic.

“Those are the kinds of things that we do to regulate ourselves and help us cope with our environments,” said Echakowitz who is in the social service worker program at Seneca College and hopes to work with autistic children in the school system.

When people on the spectrum become overstimulated and overwhelmed, they can have “meltdowns” and can appear enraged, Echakowitz said.

But what Minassian is alleged to have done on Monday, appears to have been thought-out in advance, Echakowitz noted. “Meltdowns are not premeditated.”

There have been reports Minassian may have identified as an “incel,” or “involuntarily celibate,” which refer to men who are frustrated by their inability to find romantic relationships or sex. But online incel communities are dominated by misogynistic hatred and Echakowitz is troubled by the possibility Minassian may have been involved with them.

In a press conference this week, police acknowledged a “cryptic” message was posted on Minassian’s Facebook page shortly before his arrest in the hit-and-run spree, referring to an “incel rebellion” and U.S. mass murderer Elliot Rodger.

But if Minassian was involved with incel, it is more likely this community targeted him, Echakowitz said.

When it comes to violence, autistics, like all people with disabilities, are more likely to be the victims rather than the perpetrators, Echakowitz added.

“I think it’s going to be very important to hear what (Minassian) has to say in court . . . because too often when these things happen we don’t get that story right,” Echakowitz said.

Parents of children on the autism spectrum are also worried about Minassian’s diagnosis and the stigma it casts on a community already vulnerable to attack and misunderstanding.

Laura Kirby-McIntosh, who has two children with autism, including an 18-year-old who attends Thornlea Secondary School and is in the same autism class Minassian attended, said this week’s events have been a “kick in the stomach.”

There is horror and sorrow for the victims, but also fear, she said.

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People in the community are asking themselves “if they have to defend (an alleged) mass murderer to protect autistic people,” she said.

“We’re worried about people connecting dots that shouldn’t be connected when there is no diagnostic link between autism and violence or autism and extremism,” added Kirby-McIntosh, vice-president of the Ontario Autism Coalition.

“I’m processing as a parent and as an observer that people on the spectrum may be more vulnerable to extremist ideas if they are not carefully supervised,” she added. “Sometimes our kids seem to have a magnetic attraction to computers. It’s a worry.”

Technology and the internet present a whole new set of challenges for people living with autism, said Dr. Kevin Stoddart of the Redpath Centre, a private clinic that provides mental health services for adults with autism and neurodevelopmental conditions.

“Many are vulnerable. Many are isolated and lonely and are looking for community of some kind. But they may not be a good judge of the quality of the community or the actors in that community,” Stoddart said in an interview.

“I worry about people on the spectrum getting drawn into (online) communities that are not helpful and are not healthy from a mental health standpoint,” he added.

Isolation, black-and-white thinking and difficulty with social nuance all make people on the autism spectrum vulnerable, Stoddart said.

Social Justice Reporter Laurie Monsebraaten talk about the importance of reporting on events that associate crime with autism and how her interview with Kyle Echakowitz, who was in the same special ed class for kids with autism at Thornlea Secondary School as Alek Minnasian, provided more clarity on the issue at hand for readers.

“People may attribute mental health issues to autism incorrectly. And that often means the mental health issues aren’t treated,” he said.

To address the problem, Stoddart helped form the Ontario Working Group on Mental Health and Adults with ASD in 2014 to bring psychiatrists and other mental health providers together with autism experts to share expertise with a view to better serving this vulnerable group.

“Obviously this is a devastating development,” he said about the violence on Yonge St. “And maybe it points to specific treatment that we need to think about for people who are prone to rage, and explosive, highly destructive kinds of behaviours like this.”

“So many people are suffering who have been directly and indirectly involved in this.” Stoddart added. “We’re all very heartbroken.”

With files from Jennifer Yang