Heather Kuzmich does NOT have Asperger's (misdiangosed)

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Asperger's manifests in different ways between individuals. Heather represents just one way in which Asperger's can show up in an individual. Perhaps she outgrew most of the typical signs, which is what happens in a lot of adults (it happened with me). It's not IMPOSSIBLE to learn social skills if you have Asperger's. I think these psychologists need to learn that there isn't just one form of Asperger's, there are in fact many.

I don't think it really matters any more, except to her family and herself. She was a good poster girl for the condition, especially since all the other media aspies these days seem to be up in court for some serious crime or other.

Whether she has it, I don't know. I didn't watch much of AMTM and even if I had, a few edited clips aren't sufficient for a diagnosis of what, as the author themselves admitted, can be a very subtle disorder.

From the sounds of the article, the author thinks very highly of themselves and I have met a few psychologists who also pride themselves on their remarkable ability to diagnose people. The thing is, psychiatric diagnoses are very wishywashy and open to opinion, even amongst themselves. They are silly labels to attach to real flesh and blood people, and these labels are given far higher value than they are worth.

At the end of the day, Asperger's is a made up condition, in the sense that all psychiatric conditions are little mental post-its used to keep tabs on people expressing similar symptoms to help guide their treatment. There is no diagnostic test to say for definite 'yes, you have schizophrenia' etc. The drugs don't work on everyone with the same disorder, and half the time nobody really knows what's causing the symptoms in the first place. Names get chopped and changed (hell, in the latest DSM, nobody will have aspergers) and diseases get shoved together when someone comes along and realises that they're one and the same thing.

I have limited trust in people who pride themselves on being 'experts' at picking up 'subtle' mental diagnoses, especially if it happens to be their pet condition. Look at the amount of people here who have stretched the diagnosis to its limits to encompass most Nobel Prize winners and half of Hollywood...

I don't really care for this strangely protective nature people seem to have over Autism, as if it's some sort of exclusive club. After all, I've never heard people bickering over who is or isn't more schizophrenic or bipolar. I have myself experienced people who have little idea about Autism claiming I don't have it and scolding me for being melodramatic, and it is extremely irritating. My parents didn't notice I had it, which just goes to show how subtle and difficult to define it can be. Even now, when people ask "So, what does it mean, having Autism?", I find myself floundering and unable to tell them exactly. Admittedly, this is partly because I am socially bumbling and inept, but it is also because there are so very many things that it means, and none of them are easily explained.

When I watched the series of America's Next Top Model with Heather Kuzmich in it, I didn't think "Oh, what rot - she's fine" - that seems rather an arrogant attitude to take. I thought she was brave and I thought how hard it must have been for her. I don't find the idea of modelling a very laudable one in a moral sense, but I certainly couldn't do all the travelling she had to do and interact with those screechy girls without becoming extremely stressed and unhappy. The part where she became faint and had to come out of the music video shoot was exactly what would have happened to me in the same situation, which I think is due to being unable to process the sensory stimulus in the same way that most other people do, so that it becomes overwhelming. I was once at a Morrissey concert, and found myself doing the exact same thing as Heather was doing - that is, crouching in the corner, dizzy and faint from all of the noise and light.

Not true. It's universal. Hans Asperger listed it as being a key symptom.

Did this imbecile ever figure that people with Asperger's are capable of LEARNING social skills? They don't come naturally to us, that's all. We're still capable of intellectually acquiring them. Heather could've had social skills training or she could've read books on the subject.
Asperger's usually affects females differently than it does males.
And Asperger's affects everyone differently.

Just reading that article irked me...

I have a flat affect (monotone voice, lack of facial expressions), but it doesn't have to be present for an Asperger's diagnosis.

What? Didn't your mother teach you to return a smile when someone smiles at you? How about to at least return a wave when someone waves at you? My mom made sure I was overly polite and responsive when people interacted with me otherwise I would have stood there with my head down until the person left the room while being unresponsive the whole interaction.

I don't know who this Heather person is but I think the writer of the article is missing some differences between female and male asperger's. I used to roll my eyes and gasp like the author described, but they weren't "accurate". It's never occurred to me to smile at someone if I wasn't happy, though. I got called out for doing it "wrong". Just because I or possibly many others haven't been able to master this doesn't mean someone cannot.

And the dead eye thing is BS. I heavily read fiction, I know what dead eyes and such language means. But they are right, I would not focus on eyes in art. I hate eyes.

Agreed. I have a reasonably expressive face... in fact i find it extremely difficult to control my facial expressions- people know what I am thinking whether I like it or not. My voice is a bit funny, not the most expressive,but I do express emotions through my voice. the most prominent voice feature I had in childnhood was an odd prosody. I just sounded strange.

This is a tricky question to answer as, not all people in the spectrum act or react the same or in similar patterns.
In fact, I'm one of 3 ppl living in my apartment complex whom has AS and none of us act as a mirror unto one another be it in social interactions,verbal communication,facial gestures etc.. I feel that there are some people whom might use the clause of AS to do things though, that does a great disservice unto the rest of "us" whom are legitimately as having AS.. I wish I was better at getting my point across though, I tried..

Last edited by ProfessorX on 17 Jul 2010, 7:22 am, edited 1 time in total.

Didn't he also say only males can have aspergers?

Hello nansnick

I'm not sure why and I've said it before but before I was medicated people constantly commented on my flat facial expression. It really bothered me because often I was thinking about nothing in particular and I got tired of apologizing for my face. I learned that a brief smile and a quick glance in the eyes is enough to satisfy most people (I think) so there are definitely some learned skills for me.

Hello ProfessorX

.... do i know you ? ....

.. do i know you ? .... I was merely saying hello unto you nansnic for, I meant no harm..

lol, attended Autreat this year and am now in auto-suspicious mode

Hello back