Do too many people use labels as excuses?

When I posted a poll earlier this week about T-shirts that had an in-your-face statement on the front and a DSM IV diagnosis on the back, I was thinking they were offensive because they made fun of the diagnosis (which I believe is the intent of the retailer). But a couple of commenters have taken them as using the diagnosis as an excuse for bad behavior, which I'll admit, I hadn't thought of. I'm not all that sure a diagnosis shouldn't be an excuse for bad behavior, although as the commenters quite rightly point out, not in the in-your-face way these shirts display. Maybe "explanation" is a better word. There are disabilities that affect behavior, and a label can lead to the kind of understanding, modifications and interventions that prevent the behavior from happening. Dealing with kids who act impulsively and don't remember what they've done after they've done it, or act defensively and feel real remorse afterward but do the same thing again, or don't have the capacity to understand cause and effect and consequences, or can't conceive that other people can be hurt by their actions, is difficult, frustrating, heartbreaking work for parents. And for their children, understanding that their actions, while unacceptable, aren't happening because they're bad but because their brains don't work like everybody else's seems like an important step, too. Maybe sometimes that lapses into excuses, and maybe sometimes it's mistaken for excuses. But I guess you could say this is something I'm sensitive about; what about you? Do you think too many people use labels as excuses? Pick an answer from the poll at right, then make your excuses in the comments.

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