I have nothing against people with Asperger’s syndrome or other autism-spectrum disorders – in fact, they tend to have some great ideas and are among the smartest people I’ve ever met (true savants are outright intimidating, even to me). However, the communication difficulties aren’t overhyped; they really are very difficult to talk to, even when I make a conscious effort to communicate in spite of the difficulty. It seems that they either focus incredibly intently on a single topic to the extent that everything else, including the person they are speaking to, is shut out, or they exhibit the complete opposite behavior, jumping from topic to topic so quickly that it’s difficult to retain coherence amidst the clutter (but is this actually Autism?). It seems to have an impact not only on their real-time verbal skills (i.e., those used in a conversation), but also on their writing skills in general.

I don’t think I quite understood the nature of the disorder until I began communicating with some individuals who possessed it.