Quoting anonymous sources, the Washington Post reports that Fairfax County special educators had identified shooter Seung Hui Cho as having a “severe” anxiety disorder, but regulations prevented them from notifying officials at Virginia Tech. Cho was getting help in high school for the condition, called selective mutism, but was frequently ridiculed and became more isolated in college when that assistance did not continue, the newspaper reported.

Professors and school administrators at Virginia Tech could not have known of Cho’s emotional disability — Fairfax officials were forbidden from telling them. Federal privacy and disability laws prohibit high schools from sharing with colleges private information such as a student’s special education coding or disability, according to high school and college guidance and admissions officials. Those laws also prohibit colleges from asking for such information.

The only way Virginia Tech officials would have known about Cho’s anxiety and selective mutism would have been if Cho or his parents told them about it and asked for accommodations to help him, as he had received in Fairfax.

… Cho’s parents, although cooperative with Fairfax school officials, might not have fully understood what was wrong and that their son needed help in college as well. As recently as last summer, Cho’s mother had sought out members of One Mind Church in Woodbridge to purge him of what the pastor there called the “demonic power” possessing him.

The newspaper also reports that parents and students often don’t want colleges notified of disabilities for fear of being put at a disadvantage, and that many colleges don’t want to know because the information might open them to costly litigation over admissions.

One expert is quoted as saying that selective mutism “had never been associated with violent behavior.”

See also this story from the Roanoke Times: Coverage of Cho may renew stigma of mental illness, experts say; Seung-Hui Cho’s mix of mental disorders and violence was grossly atypical of most mental health patients, several professionals said.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 27th, 2007 at 7:43 am and is filed under special education, stigma, violence. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post