Friday, June 11, 2010

Aspergers is finally mainstream

...The truth, as anyone who has lived with someone “on the spectrum” will know, is that their lives are challenging, to put it diplomatically, and while they may share certain characteristics, they are as individual as fingerprints or snowflakes...

So is Asperger’s “cool” now? Is it merely geek chic, the undiagnosed condition that may have afflicted Mozart and Einstein? Not if you ask the thousands of people who struggle every day to function at work and school in a society that may view them as quirky, but doesn’t really understand how difficult it is to exist when you are, essentially, always speaking a foreign language. Or is it more likely that people share (even in some small way) the suspicion that this is all just a trendy camouflage...

This week, as a major breakthrough in mapping autism’s genetic links was announced, it’s more pressing than ever. Turning to original sources may be the best route to enlightenment.

“I think autism is doing the same thing as other people, differently. It’s just the way you do it, the processes involved. It’s kind of like the difference between a Mac and a Windows PC,”...

UPDATE: Adult Autism Program

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