|
"Passion, falling in love and standing up for justice are all perfectly compatible with Asperger's Syndrome," Professor Simon Baron-Cohen of Cambridge"
I also have difficulty with small talk, unless it is something I am interested in. Then I am quite verbal. I also love complex subjects and I am inwardly directed. I do my own thinking, my own way, and I only focus on what interests me.
However, according to Professor Simon Baron-Cohen I do not qualify because of my female nature. He considers Asperger's Syndrome to be "an extreme of the male brain". Here are his criteria for children with Asperger's Syndrome:
1.The child spends more time involved with objects and physical systems than with people (Swettenham et al., 1998);
2.The child communicates less than other children do;
3.The child tends to follow their own desires and beliefs rather than paying attention to, or being easily influenced by, others’ desires and beliefs (Baron- Cohen, Leslie & Frith, 1985);
4.The child shows relatively little interest in what the social group is doing, or being a part of it (Bowler, 1992; Lord, 1984);
5.The child has strong, persistent[2] interests;
6.The child is very accurate at perceiving the details of information (Plaisted, O'Riordan & Baron-Cohen, 1998a; Plaisted, O'Riordan & Baron-Cohen, 1998b)
7.The child notices and recalls things other people may not (Frith, 1989);
8.The child’s view of what is relevant and important in a situation may not coincide with others (Frith, 1989);
9.The child may be fascinated by patterned material, be it visual (shapes), numeric timetables), alphanumeric (number plates), or lists (of cars, songs, etc.);
10.The child may be fascinated by systems, be they simple (light switches, water taps), a little more complex (weather fronts), or abstract (mathematics);
11.The child may have a strong drive to collect categories of objects (e.g., bottletops, train maps), or categories of information (types of lizard, types of rock, types of fabric, etc.); and
12.The child has a strong preference for experiences that are controllable rather than unpredictable.
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/7138/lobby/disability.htm
So I wager that anyone who bothers to contribute to a forum of this type has one or more of these symptoms. Some of us have many of those symptoms. I am thinking of those who have developed new models of physics in particular. You know who they are so I do not have to list names. But each of us, not only the physicists, has one or more of these symptoms. So according to Professor Simon Baron-Cohen's criteria we all have Asperger's Syndrome, including he himself, unless of course you are female.
Wanda |
