Thursday, May 27, 2004

A Curious Way To React 

After reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, I was curious enough to read Living with Asperger's Syndrome at Kuro5hin. The novel's narrator, Christopher Boone,has behaviour and abilities that are similar to those shown by a person who might have Asperger's Syndrome.

While I found the article interesting, the discussion following it was strange to say the least. Many contributors questioned the existence of the condition and others claimed that the author had not given enough information about how difficult it can be to deal with Asperger's Syndrome.

After reading a little more, I realised that much of this was a reaction to people who self-diagnose. People who attribute any perceived social differences to a medical condition. Suddenly I felt like I needed more information from the author. When was he diagnosed, what other symptoms has he experienced, how has Asperger's really made life difficult? But I didn't question the existence of Asperger's Syndrome.

Few people want to argue their limitations or share their most embarrassing or difficult moments. While I would consider discussing RP to help others with the condition or to raise awareness, I wouldn't be revealing much to strangers for their entertainment.
// posted by Deanne @ 20:02
Comments: Post a Comment

This page is powered by Blogger.