Asperger's Syndrome

[triedit]

I have reconnected with an old friend from high school via email. He wasn't exactly a friend...he was sort of a geek and a little weird but took a liking to me and I tried to be nice to him. I've found as an adult he's really quite fascinating and I totally enjoy his emails and his blog.

He suffers from Aspergers Syndrome, something of which I learned through a couple of viners who also have it. If you guys are around, pm me and I'll give you his email address. He's interested in corresponding with you.

I asked Paul about folks with aspergers...here is his reply.

Yes, you have my permission for them to contact me as an example of
someone with Asperger's who has managed to hold it together... somewhat.
However, there are other examples that could impress them even more.
(I cut this out of the WIKIPEDIA.) The only fictitious TV character
with Asperger's (although it's never been explicitly stated) is Dr.
Spencer Reid, on CRIMINAL MINDS. (One of the lawyers on BOSTON LEGAL
has it as well.)

AS is sometimes viewed as a syndrome with both advantages and
disadvantages, and notable adults with AS or autism have achieved
success in their fields. Prominent AS-diagnosed individuals include
Nobel Prize-winning economist Vernon Smith, electropop rocker Gary
Numan, Vines frontman Craig Nicholls and Satoshi Tajiri, the creator of
Pok�mon franchise. Colorado State University professor and author Temple
Grandin was diagnosed with autism at a young age, and has used her
autism to her advantage in her profession as an animal behaviorist
specializing in livestock handling.

The syndrome was in the news in 2007 because of the suicide of Nikki
Bacharach, the only child of the songwriter Burt Bacharach and his
former wife, Angie Dickinson. The younger Bacharach had AS. A month
later, Daniel Tammet, the subject of the television documentary
Brainman, published Born On a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of
an Autistic Savant (Free Press), a memoir of his life with AS, and was
profiled in The New York Times.

Some AS researchers speculate that well-known figures, including Thomas
Jefferson, Jeremy Bentham, Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Glenn Gould
and Ludwig Wittgenstein, had AS because they showed some AS-related
tendencies or behaviors, such as intense interest in one subject, and/or
social problems. These speculative diagnoses, especially posthumous
ones, remain controversial, as they work only from biographical
information and sometimes ignore documented traits that would indicate
against Asperger syndrome. Autistic-rights activists use such
speculative diagnoses to argue that it would be a loss to society if
autism were cured.

Paul has a great job doing data entry for the State of Ohio and has a wife and one child. He is, in my opinion, quite successful. I just thought it might be helpful for those who are struggling to chat with him and hear about his successes and challenges. He writes poetry and is currently writing a play.

(and if anyone has George's email please cp this to him! I don't think he followed us here)

 

[Coddfish]

Paul has a great job doing data entry for the State of Ohio and has a wife and one child. He is, in my opinion, quite successful. I just thought it might be helpful for those who are struggling to chat with him and hear about his successes and challenges. He writes poetry and is currently writing a play.

(and if anyone has George's email please cp this to him! I don't think he followed us here)

That's amazing that your friend, Paul, has had such a great and successful career.

(BTW, George is still on the Vine. He posted a thread in there about Toronto's budget problems, so I think you can still contact him. :smile