Name: Anonymous 2011-02-07 23:40
Stewart: Asperger's Syndrome, a mild version of autism, has gotten quite a lot of attention in the geek press recently, and I understand Stallman postulates in your book that he may suffer from this. What do you make of this claim?
Williams: I asked him about this directly and he says he's not entirely sure that that's what explains his childhood. While it may be impossible to determine if Stallman suffered from Asperger's Syndrome, descriptions of him as a child certainly run parallel to descriptions of kids currently diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. It's sort of like retroactively diagnosing El Greco with astigmatism or Da Vinci with dyslexia. You can't be entirely sure, but the evidence is compelling.
Williams: I asked him about this directly and he says he's not entirely sure that that's what explains his childhood. While it may be impossible to determine if Stallman suffered from Asperger's Syndrome, descriptions of him as a child certainly run parallel to descriptions of kids currently diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. It's sort of like retroactively diagnosing El Greco with astigmatism or Da Vinci with dyslexia. You can't be entirely sure, but the evidence is compelling.