[kj] Autism vs. Asperger's Syndrome

[B. Oliver Sheppard]

The diagnoses of autism in the US are way, way, way up.

I have a loved one with a brother who has been diagnosed with autism for 
a very long time. He does have the "little professor" thing going that 
can be a feature of autism; specifically, he has an encyclopedic 
knowledge of movies, movie stars, their careers, DVD editions of movies, 
and TV shows, etc. He has also many times attempted to hunt down and 
contact many Hollywood actors by way fof find their phone numbers, etc., 
via the Internet. He does not seem to know how to modeulate his voice 
properly and speaks inappropriately loudly in social situations, and 
aside from all this, from simply interacting with him you also get the 
feeling "he's just not all there," and I don't mean that in an offensive 
manner, I just mean that's the only way I can describe it without being 
more specific.

He's actually a nice guy to me but can be horrible to his family. Like I 
said, his obsession is DVD and movies. He pulls fits and gets physically 
violent if he can't get DVD new releases as they come out. he has a big 
bootleg collection. On some occasions this has actually been quite handy 
for me -- heh, heh -- and as he has an insanely intense interest in The 
Simpsons I've been able to talk to him at length about that show, and, 
yeah, he is like an encyclopedia.

However, I have tto wonder wy diagnoses of autism have skyrocketed in 
recent years? Undetected before, or are more people getting it?

Also, Asperger's I see in a different light. Asperger;s is more 
complicated and controversial. Asperger's could really just be something 
introverted, socially awkward people who spend a lot of time on the PC 
tell themselves they have to make themselves feel better about it. I've 
met a few people who claimed to have had Asperger's and they seemed 
totally normal to me, but didn't have many friends, were really into PC 
gaming, and lots of gamer, nerdy stuff. I get suspicious about that 
designation. Diagnoses of that are also on the rise. Why?

There are things I get very nerdily obsessed with -- who doesn't -- 
maybe even develop an OCD sort of attraction to (mostly music or 
art-related), and when I have felt lonely, I've been tempted to think, 
Hmm, maybe I have Asperger's. But, come on. I shake out of it. I just 
have passions and hobbies like anyone else.


-Oliver




paul wady wrote:

Do you mean that you are German Frank?
Yes, lots of Autistic kids have 'normal' parents, or very high 
functioners so you wouldnt think they where.

(Apart from the huge scrap books of favourite Radio Aerial photo's, 
encyclopaedic knowledge of Star Trek, sensitivity of brick wall etc.)


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