10-16-2005, 12:46 AM
George W. Bush is an Aspie?!?! Far out!! This lady doesn't know what she's talking about AT ALL >>
Bush in particular has always found effective communication challenging. Is it possible that his difficulty has neurobiological roots? Asperger Syndrome, for example, could explain some of his interpersonal deficits. Individuals afflicted with AS possess normal intelligence but have “marked deficiencies in social skills” according to Online Asperger Syndrome Information & Support. AS sufferers “may be preoccupied with a particular subject of interest” [four letters: I-R-A-Q] and may “perceive the world very differently” than you and I [“Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job”]. While language development “seems, on the surface, normal, individuals with AS often have deficits in pragmatics and prosody” (oh, lord, don’t get me started) and can be “extremely literal and have difficulty using language in a social context.” Experts at Worcester Polytechnic Institute note, “adults with Asperger's have trouble with empathy and modulation of social interaction.”
Bush’s rigidity and denial, his difficulty adapting to an audience – never mind his difficulty adapting to changing external circumstances – bring to mind another mind/body condition: substance use. By his own admission, Bush conquered demon alcohol and averted a slide toward alcoholism almost two decades ago, and more power to him. But as New York addiction expert Michele Fontaine, MA, CASAC, CRC points out, denial – a Bush administration hallmark – is “the most common defense in the addictive world.” And no one could dispute that the denial has reached epic proportions when it comes to “facts” and the like. The war? What war? Oh, that one – going great, thanks, as long as you don’t count the thousands of Iraqi and American lives lost. Evolution? Just a theory. Global warming? “La, la, la, la” (hands over ears), never mind that rising temperatures may have exacerbated Katrina and led to one of the largest forced human migrations in the U.S. on record.
http://www.thesimon.com/magazine/article...e_979.html
Bush in particular has always found effective communication challenging. Is it possible that his difficulty has neurobiological roots? Asperger Syndrome, for example, could explain some of his interpersonal deficits. Individuals afflicted with AS possess normal intelligence but have “marked deficiencies in social skills” according to Online Asperger Syndrome Information & Support. AS sufferers “may be preoccupied with a particular subject of interest” [four letters: I-R-A-Q] and may “perceive the world very differently” than you and I [“Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job”]. While language development “seems, on the surface, normal, individuals with AS often have deficits in pragmatics and prosody” (oh, lord, don’t get me started) and can be “extremely literal and have difficulty using language in a social context.” Experts at Worcester Polytechnic Institute note, “adults with Asperger's have trouble with empathy and modulation of social interaction.”
Bush’s rigidity and denial, his difficulty adapting to an audience – never mind his difficulty adapting to changing external circumstances – bring to mind another mind/body condition: substance use. By his own admission, Bush conquered demon alcohol and averted a slide toward alcoholism almost two decades ago, and more power to him. But as New York addiction expert Michele Fontaine, MA, CASAC, CRC points out, denial – a Bush administration hallmark – is “the most common defense in the addictive world.” And no one could dispute that the denial has reached epic proportions when it comes to “facts” and the like. The war? What war? Oh, that one – going great, thanks, as long as you don’t count the thousands of Iraqi and American lives lost. Evolution? Just a theory. Global warming? “La, la, la, la” (hands over ears), never mind that rising temperatures may have exacerbated Katrina and led to one of the largest forced human migrations in the U.S. on record.
http://www.thesimon.com/magazine/article...e_979.html
