NYT Column: I Had Asperger Syndrome. Briefly.

[HuckleB]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/01/opinion/i-had-asperger-syndrome-briefly.html?src=me&ref=general

"...

I exhibited a “qualified impairment in social interaction,” specifically “failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level” (I had few friends) and a “lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other people” (I spent a lot of time by myself in my room reading novels and listening to music, and when I did hang out with other kids I often tried to speak like an E. M. Forster narrator, annoying them). I exhibited an “encompassing preoccupation with one or more stereotyped and restricted patterns of interest that is abnormal either in intensity or focus” (I memorized poems and spent a lot of time playing the guitar and writing terrible poems and novels).

The general idea with a psychological diagnosis is that it applies when the tendencies involved inhibit a person’s ability to experience a happy, normal life. And in my case, the tendencies seemed to do just that. My high school G.P.A. would have been higher if I had been less intensely focused on books and music. If I had been well-rounded enough to attain basic competence at a few sports, I wouldn’t have provoked rage and contempt in other kids during gym and recess.

The thing is, after college I moved to New York City and became a writer and met some people who shared my obsessions, and I ditched the Forsterian narrator thing, and then I wasn’t that awkward or isolated anymore. According to the diagnostic manual, Asperger syndrome is “a continuous and lifelong disorder,” but my symptoms had vanished.

Last year I sold a novel of the psychological-realism variety, which means that my job became to intuit the unverbalized meanings of social interactions and create fictional social encounters with interesting secret subtexts. By contrast, people with Asperger syndrome and other autism spectrum disorders usually struggle to pick up nonverbal social cues. They often prefer the kind of thinking involved in chess and math, activities at which I am almost as inept as I am at soccer.

..."


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A very interesting read.

[xchrom]

1. please don't take me back to my awkward youth. nt

[Drale]

2. Aspergers is a continous and lifelong disorder

You can learn to deal with the sympotms as I have but they will still show up from time to time. I'm 23 and I just recently have started to gather a group of good friends and I am just now trying to get out in the dating world.

[DonRedwood]

5. Thank you!

In this case his mis-diagnosis, still came with the school system stepping up and helping teach him to be more social, how to make friends, etc. So, the treatment was effective in that it helped move him out of a range where his behaviors were seen as outside of the normal range.

Or, as you say above, perhaps he just learned how to deal with the symptoms so well that he no longer meets the criteria to be diagnosed.

But Aspergers, as you also say, is continuous and can be a struggle. Good luck to you as you move into the dating world! Dating is tough, no matter what, but a spark is a spark so somewhere out there is an awesome person who will fit you well. (I shudder to think of how many dates I had before I finally found my match...but it was super easy once we met up).

[Enrique]

3. his mis-diagnosis doesn't seem to have hurt him

it might even have helped him.

It is an interesting read, and kudos to him for writing it, but it has an element of advocating for the end of a benefit after one has already received the benefit.

Of course the question is whether it's a benefit to be diagnosed, but that leads me to my first question, what downsides did he suffer from his diagnosis?

Finally, isn't it a little questionable for his mother to be diagnosing him and using him in her work?

[HuckleB]

4. Developmental and mental health diagnoses are always difficult.

Yes, I do think his mother's role seemed questionable.

[CRK7376]

6. We think our son

has Asperger Syndrome. He was tested for Autism and Asperger years ago in elementary school and those who did the exams said he did not have either. He is a different kid, very talented musician and will this spring graduate from college, most likely rolling into grad school next fall. But he displays all the classic symptons of one with high functional Asperger. We worry about him constantly, how to help him especially when he moves out on his own, with luck landing a symphony position somewhere. Till then he lives at home, drives to class, will be a full time student and plays halo and other video games every waking moment not in the classroom or rehearsing...Frustrating for the parents to say theleast.