Oscar Pistorius arrives at the North Gauteng High Court for his murder trial. (Werner Beukes, Sapa, Pool)
Cape Town - A physician’s argument that Oscar Pistorius would have more “exaggerated fight or flight” responses because of his disabilities, thus resulting in him killing Reeva Steenkamp, has been rejected by US disability rights groups, it has been reported.
Testifying for the defence, Wayne Derman, said Pistorius had a deep sense of vulnerability and it was a factor in what he has described as a mistaken shooting.
But the National Organisation on Disabilities in the US told Yahoo! Newsthat the reasoning is an “exploitation” of the athlete’s “physical disability to say that it’s linked to some mental health issue that would cause him to commit murder”.
The group’s president Carol Glazer said if someone is able to win an able-bodied track medal in a world athletics race, then one has “figured out how to adapt his disability”.
Glazer said it was unlikely that the same disability would trigger hyper-vigilance in the same person.
The executive vice president of the American Association of People with Disabilities, Henry Claypoll, said
He doesn’t believe that Pistorius’s disability can justify the killing of Steenkamp.
Testifying for the defence, Wayne Derman, said Pistorius had a deep sense of vulnerability and it was a factor in what he has described as a mistaken shooting.
But the National Organisation on Disabilities in the US told Yahoo! Newsthat the reasoning is an “exploitation” of the athlete’s “physical disability to say that it’s linked to some mental health issue that would cause him to commit murder”.
The group’s president Carol Glazer said if someone is able to win an able-bodied track medal in a world athletics race, then one has “figured out how to adapt his disability”.
Glazer said it was unlikely that the same disability would trigger hyper-vigilance in the same person.
The executive vice president of the American Association of People with Disabilities, Henry Claypoll, said
He doesn’t believe that Pistorius’s disability can justify the killing of Steenkamp.
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