From the Washington Post:

Tim Page, author of “Parallel Play: Growing Up with Undiagnosed Asperger’s” and a Pulitzer Prize winning music critic, answers readers’ questions about Asperger’s syndrome and its effect on his life.

Some excerpts:

“The diagnosis was helpful in a lot of ways — mostly in explaining some of the things that had proved difficult, sometimes even impossible, for most of my life. And I didn’t exactly “give in” to the condition, but being aware that I had it helped me make smarter choices.

“… I also admire the radical new autism activists, such as Aspies for Freedom, who believe that autism and Asperger’s should be considered “differences” rather than afflictions. I have some mixed feelings about this –  although I do think some of the things I ended up doing were enabled by my Asperger’s Syndrome, I still wouldn’t wish it on anybody, for I’ve felt pretty unhappy a lot of my life. Still, I love their punchy, radical spirit — and who knows? Perhaps the depression and anxiety that seem to accompany most cases of AS wouldn’t be there if we didn’t always feel so strange.”

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 31st, 2009 at 2:42 pm and is filed under Asperger's, arts/music, books. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.