People who have either condition typically overestimate the risk in a situation and underestimate their own resources for coping. Sufferers avoid what they fear instead of developing the skills to handle the kinds of situations that make them uncomfortable. Often enough, a lack of social skills is at the root. Some types of anxiety—obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, and social phobia—are particularly associated with depression. http://www.xanax-effecs.com/
Here's my letter to the Chronicle in response to Brottman's article:
I am mother to two adolescents, one with a diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome. Mikita Brottman's armchair diagnoses of her despised former colleagues, and her arrogant, judgmental, condescending, poorly informed speculations, are tasteless and bigoted. Her reference to AS as a "character disorder" in itself clearly demonstrates that her education on the subject is limited to stereotypes and words on paper.
Citizens with autism and Asperger Syndrome are not works of fiction, cartoon characters, or figments of the imagination, they are real human beings. Many live a lifetime on the receiving end of the kind of intolerance so abundantly demonstrated by Ms. Brottman. It is alarming that the Chronicle of Higher Education would choose to broadcast such an ill-considered hemorrhage of viciousness against individuals with developmental disabilities. Would you publish such prejudicial slurs against members of any other class of humanity?
Sincerely,
Kathleen Seidel
neurodiversity.com | honoring the variety of human wiring
See also Peddling Prejudice, the comments on this post from Autism Diva, and Diagnosis by Proxy and other Logical Fallacies for more responses to Brottman's nasty little outburst of intellectualized bigotry.
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