Read the latest Newsweek on autism (new research, trying to complicate notion that condition is a "disability", showing how the condition, Asperger Syndrome, fits on spectrum of human intelligence, with some interesting gender implications: 4/5 people diagnosed with syndrome are males).

Has a lot to do with 'systematizing' vs 'empathizing' kinds of intelligences. Read with amazement some of the characteristics which fit me to a "t" (my housemate AND mother confirm this sense--some weird and very specific, like when I was a child I insisted that one food never touch another, including spaghetti sauce which had to be indifferent part of plate than noodles--mom finally bought my brother and me plates with moats! Also extreme sensitivity to small sounds--have had to learn to live with fact I can hear people chewing--used to drive me insane as a child--and light, ditto). Went to site (newsweek.msnbc.com) to take full test which is of course NOT a medical diagnosis. And may be about as accurate as Quizzilla, hah.

If you're interested...

http://www.msnbc.com/news/958646.asp

And my result on 50 question quiz are: 31.

Range:

0-10 low
11-22 average (women average score of 15, men 17)
23-31 above average
32-50 very high (people with Asperger Syndrome or high functioning autism average 35)

Not claiming I'm autistic, but some of the 'weirdnesses' I've had all my life may be linked to that (especially since father and brother had similar characteristics). (The one I esp. like is "gets very interested in one activity to exclusion of all others"...hmm, wonder if being a stone fan may correlate with some of the characteristics related to autism, heh).

This new book is apparently about refiguring autism away from "disability" category to "extreme intelligence" category--i.e. there are certain abilities which people who have syndrome has to excess, others which they don't. Some of this involves pattern organizing (which may be one of reasons I can read so fast--have always tested so highly that it drove experts crazy, about 1200-1500 words per minute with 99% comprehension, but can never remember names or faces...)

(Thank goodness, the myth that unloving mothers caused it is apparently fully debunked these days; ditto "homosexuality").

Very interesting to think about..