Hi Cindy,


> Dr. Donahue (an Orlando FL doctor/columnist) answered a question wrt a
> "Disorder" called Aspager's Disorder...... "DISORDER"??? OR
> DIFFERENCE?

> The patient avoids eye contact, has trouble making friends, has
> difficulty with fine motor skills, is not interested in sports... has
> select interests....  but can lead a productive and happy life.

> I get the IMPRESSION the 'disorder' is called a disorder based on
> social skills. That if you're not a party animal, or you don't like
> sports you're uh suffering a DISORDER rather than simply being
> different from the status quo?

Actually Asperger's Sydrome is sort of a type of autism.  It's not based on
social skills like a shy person might exhibit.. or that wild party animal
might exhibit..

From what I've seen of it (just one little boy I know), I can sometimes
sympathize with him because of some of the symptoms of MS.. Lemme try to
explain :)   With MS, sometimes you walk into a room where everyone is
shouting
(really, they are probably just talking loud ) and you want to get
out immediately - it's that sensation that the noise and the sound and the
people are coming from every direction (though they're really not
).. Loud voices, Loud colors, (supermarkets used to drive me nuts
when this would hit) it's all just too much... too much to take in at
once.. visually, aurally, etc.

Asperger's is yet another neurological disease, and what I've described
above is really only a small part of what some with it go through.

They are sometimes obsessed with a certain routine (maybe because they know
it, there are no surprises, and it's therefore safe).. there's a lot more
to it than I've described above and hopefully the show you watched gave you
some references where you can find out more about it. If not, just use
google to find asperger's syndrome.

> What do you think? Is medical science defining conditions based on
> status quo?

> I always thought conditions were 'disorders' if they interfere with
> being able to function in a way that lends to self support...''

Asperger's certainly can interfere with being able to function "in a
way that lends to self support" in some  cases.. Autism itself is
incredibly hard to live with..

Take care,
Janis

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