Author Stephen Biddulph has aspergers

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As a child you suffered from Asperger’s Syndrome. How did this affect your own childhood and adolescence?
In primary school it didn’t matter; boys just yell and run around and it’s not very social. But as a teen it was hard – conversations just didn’t work. Someone who suffers from Asperger’s can be quite bright, but just not able to function socially (this probably describes the entire legal profession!). It’s a very lonely thing to have, because you have intense feelings, you just don’t understand them. I was lucky that various people – teachers, youth workers and church people – saw something good in me, and didn’t give up on me. And of course I became a psychologist specialising in family therapy. It was through learning to be a therapist that I could work out logically how to relate: what to say, when to stop talking and listen, and how to notice people’s emotions. What happens is you go beyond being normal and become a little better at these things; most normal people are actually kind of sleepwalking throughout their social interactions.
You know, I can hold an audience of 800 people spellbound and I can talk a severely traumatised person through their problems to a happier life. Yet I am still awkward one-to-one; it’s hard work. I value the gifts in this disorder, but sometimes I would give anything to just be normal.