Sunday, 14 August 2011

Not lying, I am puzzled

I am puzzled by this story which has appeared in the UK Daily Mail on-line. Puzzled because the article about sperm donation by a man purported to have Asperger syndrome carries a few details which quite frankly puzzle me.

The person in question lives in the Netherlands and offered his services to several women wishing to have a child. Apparently a few of these women did a little digging around after some of their offspring were diagnosed with Asperger syndrome and found out a few things about their donor.

Puzzle 1: the article makes mention of an 'Asperger gene' and an 'autism gene'. Strange.. I didn't know there was one.
Puzzle 2: the chap in question has been named (by a newspaper) as being a 'pathological liar'. I admit that I have not looked comprehensively at the literature on telling fibs and autism spectrum conditions such as Asperger syndrome. A quick look at some of the first-hand accounts suggests that people with Asperger syndrome don't lack the capacity to be able to lie as everyone else, but to be pathological liars? I don't know, I suppose it depends on the situation and other personal factors. Maybe one for another post some time and how to lie.

Still I am puzzled about this article (and I'm not lying).

2 comments:

  1. The news story makes no sense.

    Either the writer doesn't to know anything about autism or they have inadvertently discovered the secret behind the autism epidemic - autism is an std.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Absolutely agree. I really wish I knew what the sources were for this article because it makes little sense for various reasons.

    ReplyDelete

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