Manifesto Destiny

[H2O Man]

7. Interesting.

I was recently at a holiday gathering of numerous young parents and their toddlers. I was invited because one of my son's friends like me, and so I was the lone old person there. I sat quietly and opted to just listen to the conversations of one of the younger generations, since my grandson was busy playing with his buddies.

Soon, the discussion turned to the parents and children of those who were not there. Certain mildly informed adults were attributing aspects of aspergers and autism to others' children. I did not butt my formerly broken nose into the conversation, but I did remember that most of the highly intelligent people I knew when I was young were socially awkward. Those things can and often do go hand in hand.

I'm long retired from a career in mental health. Since I retired, the insurance industry has caused some diagnoses to change. I keep that in mind. More, I think it is important to remember that if we exam anyone closely, we will find some feature of a personality disorder, though not enough to diagnose them with it. I suspect that lots of children have aspects of aspergers and autism, but are still just good little ones who are perfectly normal. Aspergers and autism are serious issues, but I suspect that Big Pharma would prefer that every parent have their child(ren) diagnosed and placed on medication.

I say this, without reference to this case.