Re: GG: Asperger's Syndrome -- again

[Kate Clunies-Ross <goldbergs@TALK21.COM>]

Good morning again


Ah....this subject doesnt seem to want to lie down quietly, or just go away
does it!
Tim: I read the list you quote for identifying Aspergers sufferers. I dont
think I want to say how many applied to me  (help!) but I will say that I
DID (and do) enjoy imaginitive story  writing , as somebody on this list can
testify, but alas, this was not encouraged at all when I was at school!

I have seen other lists designed to help with the diagnosis of Aspergers.
its evidently difficult to diagnose though, and the lists I have seen do not
insist on all criteria being met, but they do say several must exist, and
the more that exist, then the more likely the diagnosis is correct.
I have discussed Aspergers and autism quite extensively with a friend who
has a severely autistic son. I used to think of Asperger's ad a 'mild' form
of autism, but she tells he it is usually considered to be  simply autism as
manifested in people with high intelligence. Evidently it is noticeable even
in a child...he or she tends to use language pedantically , not in a
typically 'childish' way, to be serious and even obsessive, and to fail to
mix well with other kids.

Also I have heard that people with Aspergers depend on certain rituals for
peace of mind... they dont like change (example: someone who might only use
a certain chair in his work, and wouldnt have it changed or mended even when
it was rickety and the seat wore out completely...) and have an abnormal
sensitivity and reaction to certain sensory stimuli ( abnormal hearing, or
even abnormal  overreaction to bright cololurs likle fire-engine red?)

 I am not trying to  joke, though. Whether it is useful to consider Gould as
a possible Apsergers case is debatable. Yes....if it helps us understand the
man, and therefore his creativity and art. Not really, if we are just trying
to label him, to put him in a neat pigeon-hole.

In the circumstances I personally think  that yes, he probably would today
be classified as having Aspergers syndrome if he was studied by someone with
the appropriate medical qualifications.. yet to me Gould was so much a
one-off, so unlike other men that such a diagnosis might be meaningless

. But there are two points to make here: the first is that there is nothing
"wrong" about this, it is in no way a criticism, it doesnt demonstrate "feet
of clay" as Tim mentioned. It is simply a label of the type of personality
he had. We dont consider it a criticism to say he had blue eyes or insomnia
or big feet (well, they look big to me!) because these were matters outside
his control; so was Aspergers (if true)
Secondly you may note I have never termed him a "sufferer" from  Aspergers.
A far as I can see, he didnt suffer at all from the characteristics we have
been discussing, although he may have suffered from other things like his
phobias and hypochondria. Maybe Asperger's people in general dont 'suffer';
it is others that find them strange or difficult. For example they dont form
relationships easily. Well, Gould was once asked if he ever felt lonely; he
said no, never, in fact he didnt really klnow what the word meant, although
he would try to sympathise with another person whop felt loneliness.  He
doesnt demonstrate much suffering there!

Incidently I have never seen a suggestion that Helfgott suffered from
Aspergers; has this idea been raised before? I though he had other,
definitely mental, proiblems, not Aspergers at all. I havent seen the
fillum, though.

Kate