The Story of Guy

Dr. Asperger with one of his "young professors".

This is the story of a guy named Guy. (The name and certain circumstances have been altered "to protect the innocent"). Guy is a special kind of guy. You see, Guy is said to have Asperger's Syndrome.

Now, Asperger's Syndrome doesn't sound as bad as it does. It's not like Lou Gehrig's Disease, a degenerative disorder also called "amyotrophic lateral sclerosis"; which was thrust into the limelight in the bestselling book, Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. Asperger's is considered a "high-functioning autism". Whereas autism, as exemplified by Down's Syndrome, is characterized by mental retardation and physical debilitation, Asperger's does not cause delays in linguistic or cognitive development. In fact, many children with Asperger's have above-average intelligence.  They are also able to take care of themselves.  However, they have diffulties in social interaction, are inflexible when it comes to routine, and are physically clumsy. In other words, people with may have high IQ's but have poor EQ's, or emotional intelligence.

The disorder was first described by Hans Asperger, an Austrian pediatrician, in 1944. He observed four children who lacked nonverbal communication skills, demonstrated limited empathy with their peers, and were physically clumsy. His young patients demonstrated an advanced use of language that he called them "young professors".

The primary characteristic of Asperger's Syndrome is difficulty in social interaction, especially the lack of empathy. People with Asperger's do not retreat into their own world; they may approach other people, albeit clumsily. Another characteristic is a keen, almost obsessive, interest in a narrow field of study, which other people find too arcane or convoluted to understand.

Enter Guy.

Guy works in the IT division of a certain (non-IT) company. He is handy around computers. In fact, he is often called upon when there are computer-related problems. He is a very helpful person; often fixing other people's laptops, answering questions, and even giving advice on what mobile phone/netbook/gadget to buy. He does not isolate himself from his co-workers (even if his cubicle is at the back of the room). But he often launches into a monologue on tech-related stuff (like "How defragging your hard drive frees up disk space and makes your computer run faster"), for which frankly, nobody cares.

Guy finds it pointless to engage in small talk or "feelings": for him, these are not intellectually stimulating or even useful. He likes to display his knowledge on a wide field of subjects; but fails to recognize that the person he is talking to is getting bored and wants to pull away. Guy finds it difficult to "read between the lines", or decode body language.

Guy has a fascination with gadgets. No, he does not "keep up with the Joneses" with the latest tech: he uses an old laptop and an old smartphone. He does not own an iPod, an iPhone, nor an iPad. What he does is maximize his resources by downloading and installing a plethora of computer programs and phone applications. Guy also likes making new stuff: He once talked about harvesting the laser-emitting diode on a DVD writer and make it into a laser gun which he could use to cut duct tape. He also talked about placing a small cell phone in the heel of his shoe so that whenever he answers a call or text, he would pull off his shoe and "watch at other people gawk in amazement".

Dating and social life are the biggest sources of bewilderment for Guy. He finds the duplicity which people use to make friends, advance in work, or find mates "very abhorrent". ("It's like how people form alliances and backstab each other in Survivor.") He could not care less for clothes or fashion: for as long as these meet the basic criteria of modesty, that will do. Unfortunately, he fails to realize that "clothes make up the man" (or does not believe in it) and that it is among the first things that girls look at. He often wears black or grey clothes, which he says, he got the idea after reading about mathematician Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park.

Guy is often criticized to be "too honest". He fails to see (or does not care) that there are certain social conventions which dictate what things are acceptable to be said in society and other which are not. From a linguistic point of view, he is a failure when it comes to sociolinguisitics, pragmatics, and discourse analysis. After helping a friend for the umpteenth time for things which he thinks are very basic, he berated her, "If you're too stupid to use this gadget, you shouldn't have bought it!" Then a strange hush seemed to hang over the office.

Guy has amazing powers of concentration. He fails to get cues from body language or to understand a person is being politely/discreetly indirect, or sarcastic (he takes these things literally, often with disastrous results). However, he seems to "talk" to computers and "understand" what they "say". When his co-workers ask him to look into a tech-related problem, we would sometimes cut them off and enter into a trance-like state. He relates that one time, an officemate asked for help because the computer "hanged". He corrected her ("The computer didn't hang; it gronked," and began a long-winded explanation of what difference is) and proceeded to fix the problem. "The computer was confused," said Guy, as if the machine were a person. "There were so many processes going on it couldn't decide what to do first." (Apparently, Guy has a better time talking with machines than girls.)  Another time, he relates, another co-worker was distraught because a computer virus "deleted" all the files in her flash disk. He snatched her thumb drive and proceeded to recover all of her lost files. ("The files weren't erased; the virus hid them. Easiest thing to solve.")

How shall we end the story of Guy?

There are  several treatments for Asperger'sSyndrome. This includes therapy to improve social integration skills, to cut back of obsessive behavior and idiosyncratic speech, and to assist in motor coordination (for clumsiness). There is also medication that could help treat anxiety and depression.

If Asperger's is characterized with difficultly integrating with society, people with this condition find it difficult to integrate into society because of society's stereotypes on those with autism. Guy relates when he told a cousin that he may have Asperger's (he hasn't been tested yet), she registered a shock on her face. "Don't say that!" she cried. "No, I'm not going to die!" he answered. Even if he explained that Asperger's is a high-level autism ("I'm not a retard"), his cousin could not get over the shock.

Perhaps people like Guy do not need to be cured, but to be understood. It has been suggested that Asperger's be treated as a "different cognitive style" and no longer considered a disease or disorder. Perhaps society should celebrate diversity instead of expecting people to be "normal" and stigmatize those who do are not. People with Asperger's Syndrome find it difficult to integrate with society; so society must be more open to accept them.