Underestimating Aspergers

Underestimating Asperger’s on ANTM by Roxanne McDonald

Word to the unwise: Heather may just out-model you all.

Like any season of “America’s Next Top Model,” this ninth cycle features an underdog–for the ratings or the credit for empowering the same or for whatever other reasons.

And like any abominable challenge—deterioration of

eyesight (retinitis pigmentosa), loss of short-term memory, even a Vargas Nerve disorder—Heather’s Asperger’s Syndrome is misinterpreted, misunderstood, and misjudged (underestimated) by the fellow ANTM contestants.

Chantal camera-talks that Heather is over her head in this competition, deciding that having “no social skills” will be her downfall.

Janet calls Heather “spacey”.

Bianca has decided, back at the loft when Heather leaves something out after she eats, that Heather is “on delay,” whatever that means; and during a fashion-shopping challenge, Jenah announces that Heather has no clue about what is happening and what she should be doing.

But while Mila tries to stay open-minded, to learn more, and while Victoria dislikes the behind-the-back hostility about Heather and refuses to contribute to the nastiness, one ANTM hopeful wins the prize for most cruel and most uninformed.

Kimberly confessionals that she is sure Heather will be a “clinger” who will have to be cut loose if she shows her any attention at all.

Now maybe a rare few with Asperger’s are clingy, but really, as a sub-disorder of Autism, the opposite is more likely to be true of the disorder’s characteristics (or symptoms).

Last I checked in with Rain Man, for instance, I didn’t notice a tincture of overt needfulness on his part. In fact, they typically prefer to not be touched, held, or bonded with in any traditional fashion.

I have long-term friends who have Asperger’s and they are more socially autonomous and independent than not. Or, rather, they are by choice removed from socializing to the degree that Kimberly erroneously infers will be clingy.

They are dynamic, successful, brilliant individuals who are more likely to run a world-renowned non-profit or a lucrative eBay collectibles shop—from the seclusion of their own homes.

They are focused to the point of fixation on anything other than close bonds with rivals, Kim. And they are not completely void of social skills, Chantal.

Granted, while Heather will have to confront the ironic double-whammy of challenges that require affect—eye-to-eye contact, animation, humor, or special Benny Ninja moves—her photos are stunning and her requisites for ANTM participation do not necessarily include indulging the catty, the cruel, or the crass.

Better women that you all misunderstanding meanies have tried to fell those with disabilities that are in many ways super-abilities.

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