Mild autism has 'selective advantages'
Asperger Syndrome can improve concentration

(Παρατηρηση της Περλας: το Asperger ΔΕΝ ειναι ΕΛΑΦΡΗΣ ΑΥΤΙΣΜΟΣ!!!
Eστω και αν ολοι οι "εξυπνοι" επιστημονες ανα τον κοσμο ετσι το
εχουν αποφασισει. Διοτι εγω δεν νοιωθω καμμια διαφορα μεταξυ
του "βαρυ" και ελαφρυ" Αυτισμου και συνομιλω με τους βαρυς
αυτιστικους το ιδιο με εναν ελαφρυ)

By Sue Herera
CNBC updated 6:42 p.m. ET Feb. 25, 2005

What happens when children with autism grow up? It may sound
paradoxical, but some with the mildest form, Asperger Syndrome, may
turn out to be stars.

People with Asperger's often have extreme difficulty interacting
socially, preferring to focus on narrow fields of interest. But
often they're able to pursue those interests with great intensity.
Geniuses throughout history, including Albert Einstein, Andy Warhol
and Emily Dickinson, have all been thought to have had Asperger's.
And now Nobel Laureate Vernon Smith has decided to speak openly
about what he calls the deficiencies and the selective advantages of
Asperger's.

“I can switch out and go into a concentrated mode and the world is
completely shut out,” he said in a recent interview. “If I'm writing
something, nothing else exists.”

Smith received the Nobel Prize in 2002 for inventing the field of
experimental economics, which uses laboratory methods to test
economic theories. Smith says his capacity for deep concentration
contributed to his ability to win the Nobel Prize.

---------------------
‘We don't all have to think alike to be communal and to live in a
productive and satisfying world.’
— Vernon Smith, Nobel Prize-winning economist
---------------------

“Perhaps even more importantly, I don't have any trouble thinking
outside the box,” he said. “I don't feel any social pressure to do
things the way other people are doing them, professionally. And so I
have been more open to different ways of looking at a lot of the
problems in economics."

CNBC: Did you feel like you seemed strange in the eyes of other
people?
Smith: Oh, yes.

CNBC: How so?
Smith: Sometimes I'm described as "not there" in a social situation.
You know, a social situation that lasts for a couple of hours I find
it to be a tremendous amount of strain, so I've been known just to
go to bed and read.

CNBC: What led you to teaching? Teaching is very social and you said
earlier you don't do well in social situations.
Smith: Teaching ... has forced me into being more social, but it's
on professional dimensions that I'm comfortable with. We're talking
about things that I have a lot of experience with, and I can relate
to students very easily in that mode.

CNBC: Because they're in your world?
Smith: Yes, exactly, that's a good way to put it, they're in my
world. And there are maybe worlds out there that I don't understand,
so I don't go there.

Smiths' wife, Candace, says it hard at times to understand why her
husband can't be part of her emotional world.

"He might not always know what he feels," she said. "In fact, many
times he doesn't. He'll say, 'I don't know. What do you mean? ..."

Smith says she's found comfort in the Asperger's label because it's
helped put some of her husband's actions into perspective.

"If you didn't have these words like autism or Asperger's as entry
words into your own experience and understanding then you could
categorize a child or adult as unemotional, cold, insensitive," she
said. "Many people don't understand Vernon and they conclude wrongly
about him."

Some doctors who treat people with Asperger's, like Dr. Ami Klin at
Yale University, say Smith's success is not typical of people with
this disability.

"The vast majority of individuals with Asperger Syndrome need help —
without that help they won't be able to do very well," he said. "The
individuals that I know have to overcome a great deal of difficulty
to maximize their potential and get the things in life they deserve."

CNBC: There are people who think that a number of highly influential
executives may have Asperger's or are on the autism spectrum. Is
that society making a judgement or is it coming to realize that
there are different kinds of minds?
Smith: I think it's different kinds of minds, and the recognition
that certain mental deficiencies may actually have some selective
advantages in terms of activities. We've lost a lot of the barriers
that have to do with skin color and with various other
characteristics. But there's still not sufficient recognition of
mental diversities. And we don't all have to think alike to be
communal and to live in a productive and satisfying world.

(CNBC special projects producer Alison Tepper-Singer contributed to
this report.)

Και αν δεν πιστευετε οτι η επιστημη βλεπει τον Αυτισμό σαν την
χειροτερη ΠΑΘΗΣΗ ΤΟΥ ΑΙΩΝΑ ΜΑΣ, τοτε διαβαστε αυτα που συνοδευουν
αυτο το αρθρο...

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ΚΑΙ ΟΛΑ ΑΥΤΑ ΓΙΑ ΜΙΑ "ΠΑΘΗΣΗ" ΠΟΥ ΟΥΤΕ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΠΑΘΗΣΗ ΑΛΛΑ ΟΥΤΕ
ΘΕΡΑΠΕΥΕΤΑΙ. ΑΝ ΕΨΑΧΝΕ Η ΕΠΙΣΤΗΜΗ ΕΝΑΝ ΤΡΟΠΟ ΝΑ ΘΕΡΑΠΕΥΣΕΙ ΤΟΥΣ
ΜΑΥΡΟΥΣ ΑΠΟ ΤΟ ΜΑΥΡΟ ΧΡΩΜΑ ΤΟΥΣ ΔΕΝ ΘΑ ΣΑΣ ΕΝΟΧΛΟΥΣΕ ΑΥΤΟ;;;

ΙΣΩΣ ΝΑ ΣΑΣ ΕΝΟΧΛΗΣΕΙ ΤΟΤΕ ΟΤΙ ΕΛΛΗΝΕΣ ΣΥΜΠΑΤΡΙΩΤΕΣ ΣΑΣ, ΣΕ ΗΛΙΚΙΕΣ
ΠΑΙΔΙΩΝ ΘΕΤΟΝΤΑΙ ΣΕ ΤΕΤΟΙΕΣ ΘΕΡΑΠΕΙΕΣ ΩΣΤΕ ΝΑ ΘΕΡΑΠΕΥΤΗ
ΤΟ "ΔΙΑΦΟΡΕΤΙΚΟ ΧΡΩΜΑ" ΤΟΥ ΕΓΚΕΦΑΛΟΥ ΤΟΥΣ...

ΣΤΑ ΣΤΡΑΤΟΠΕΔΑ ΤΩΝ ΝΑΖΙ ΚΑΝΑΝΕ ΠΕΙΡΑΜΑΤΑ ΜΕ ΤΗΝ ΑΛΛΑΓΗ ΤΟΥ ΧΡΩΜΑΤΟΣ
ΤΩΝ ΜΑΤΙΩΝ ΑΠΟ ΚΑΣΤΑΝΑ ΣΕ ΜΠΛΕ, ΠΟΥ ΗΤΑΝ ΚΑΛΥΤΕΡΑ...

ΚΑΠΩΣ ΕΤΣΙ ΤΩΡΑ ΑΛΛΑΖΟΥΜΕ ΤΑ ΑΥΤΙΣΤΙΚΑ ΠΑΙΔΙΑ ΣΕ ΜΗ-ΑΥΤΙΣΤΙΚΑ ΩΣΤΕ
ΝΑ ΤΑΙΡΙΑΖΟΥΝ ΣΤΗΝ ΚΟΙΝΩΝΙΑ ΜΑΣ...

ΑΥΤΟ ΦΥΣΙΚΑ ΔΕΝ ΣΑΣ ΕΝΟΧΛΕΙ ΚΑΘΟΛΟΥ ΔΙΟΤΙ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΓΙΑ ΤΟ ΚΑΛΟ ΤΟΥΣ
ΕΤΣΙ;;;

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