That girl from America's next top model.

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I totally agree Kitsy. I was lucky to have been diagnosed as 'gifted' in the 70s and taught that i could do anything that I set my mind to. Of course I've had to work harder at the stuff I wasn't naturally good at, but everyone is born with different strengths and weaknesses, and with the right support everyone can find their niche. As long as you accept that with AS some things are out of reach, and find an environment that doesn't drain you emotionally or cause meltdowns. Personally I can't face lots of people every day, but part-time media work suits me fine and I really enjoy it.

I've started writing a book with some positive views of life with AS. Both my husband and I have Aspergers and we are both happy and successful people. Sure it hasn't always been easy, we've had some really tough times along the way. But now we have the luxury of living in a gorgeous country, working for ourselves and doing what we love day to day.

I'm so proud of Heather for doing ANTM and showing the world our creative, caring side. There are so many misconceptions about autism and AS, even here on Wrong Planet. Apparently none of us are able to empathise, and we definitely can't have AS if we make eye contact which is just rubbish.

Watching Heather learn and grown in confidence every week was great and she was definitely the public's favourite. The best bit for me was reading the fan sites with comments like - 'I know a kid like that at school. I'll try and be a bit nicer to them next time I see them'.

I CALL SHOTGUN to date her!

Our favourite Aspie is now also on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/hkmodel

how do you know that's her myspace and not a phony? Assuming it's real, did you notice that under "heroes" she listed "my gay mommies"?

Because it's listed on her DeviantART page, http://0pandoras0tear0.deviantart.com/ .
The "gay mommies" thing could be sarcasm of some sort.

Holy topic-drift, Batman!!

...ahem...

"HEATHER"

There - that's better.

...And the point of that commment was?

...that the last 5+ pages had nothing to do with her?

Your avatar is growling at me.

Well, we seem to be back on track now.

aspies are not good when it comes to sarcasm

It might just be something she wrote to get attention.

I finally saw most of the episodes Heather appeared in, and if she had never revealed her AS, I wouldn't have picked up on it. Very high functioning. It appeared she received the most air time of all the models, which is a credit to her personality, since someone with AS usually becomes invisible. Her photos were amazing, but when not in front of the camera, she appeared very awkward and a little plain. The camera loves her. Perhaps it was the editing, but even near the end of her run, she was still negative and hard on herself. She rarely accentuated the positive. Although she had great difficulty delivering lines and making eye contact (I am absolutely horrible speaking in front of people, even one person), she was very articulate and didn't have problems expressing herself and standing up for her rights. I call shower!

Heather is feisty which is great, as you really need to be assertive to get ahead in life. As someone said here - Aspergers breeds strong people. I 've always been a lot more assertive than many of my female NT friends especially in the workplace, and get a lot of respect for my straight up Aspie manner. I'm actually a very laid back person day to day, but tough as old boots when it comes to doing business. It's like a skin I can slip on and off now I've had plenty of practice, though I'm glad I don't have to wear it every day as it's very tiring.

Living with AS successfully is a lot like surfing. Sometimes you can tackle the big waves, other days you get knocked off, and some days all you can do is hang out the back of the waves and rest on your board. As you get older your balance improves and you learn which waves to aim for and which to avoid. Now I'm in my 30s I can ride nearly every wave, but still get wiped out if I don't rest in between the big ones.

Oh and I called shower first!!

She's not that skinny. My body is that size and I still manage to do long-distance running without fainting/breaking my bones.

I can't believe I am still sort of waiting to hear more about that girl.