I watched _The Boy Inside_ for the first time when it was rebroadcast on CBC Newsworld about a month ago. I could be Adam. But in 1970 -- when my frustrated parents sent me to the University of Ottawa's Child Study Centre for a year to try to figure me out -- no-one knew anything about Asperger's or autism. The best they could say is "He's bright, and he'll probably turn out to be neurotic. Good luck!"
One of my daughters has been diagnosed with High-Functioning Autism. (I guess before, we used that label interchangeably with the Asperger's label. Nowadays, though, they use "Asperger's" if your language development was straightforward like mine, and "HFA" if your language development had any reverses or backtracking, as Tina's did.) Following our research into the subject, I became more and more convinced that I was on the autism spectrum. I recently went to Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen's website and took his Adult Asperger's Assessment (AAA) online and "passed" (ha!) with flying colours.
I'm posting partly because I might be able to at least provide a data point on the scale of "paths Adam could end up taking in life". There are things in my life that were great, but there were other things that would have been much better avoided (and in which early intervention during adolescence would have been a HUGE help).
Some areas of my life have been great. I've served as an elected politician in my home town, I led a historic court case that added to the foundation of Canadian electoral case law, I have a wonderful wife and 6 wonderful kids, I've made successful and lucrative appearances on an American TV game show, I've had some wonderful and exciting jobs, and on and on.
Other areas weren't so great. I suffer from tremendous depression and self-loathing, largely due to the bullying I suffered in junior high school. (High school was better for me, and I sure hope it's being better for Adam.) I have problems with addiction, largely due to the above and to my difficulty in forming and maintaining social relationships. I feel like an "outsider" no matter where I am and no matter how welcoming people are around me. Often as a child, and occasionally now as an adult, I honestly believe I'd be happy to sacrifice 30 IQ points or more just to "fit in", to "be normal".
Anyhow. Thanks for the film. Best wishes to Marianne and Adam and all your family. And if Marianne or Adam or anyone else would like to chat about my path or your path or whatever, please feel free to get in touch with me at robert@robertslaven.ca.
Robert Slaven
Surrey BC
Adults on the Spectrum
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