Paralympic swimmer with Asperger's:

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The main part of the article, for me, is this.^ I'm assuming all 3 criteria must be met.
An IQ below 75 excludes most with Aspergers. In fact, according to those diagnosing my daughter just a few weeks ago, having a below average IQ would not enable her to get a diagnosis of Aspergers at all. It would have been 'autism', not specifically Aspergers. I'm thinking that most people with Aspergers would be excluded from that category in the Paralympics and, unless they had a physical disability, they would need to enter the Olympics instead. I'm not aware of what Jessica-Jane's circumstances are.

She has a learning difficulty, and has Aspergers, the former got her into the Paralympics.

I think this is a little curious that a person diagnosed with Aspergers has to have an IQ > 75 but a person classed as intellectually disabled has an IQ < 75? Am I the only one to notice this?

After watching several interviews with her, I see absolutely no signs of intellectual disability in Jessica-Jane Applegate at all... I have quite a hard time believing that someone who can reliably reflect on the concept of metaphors and the prospective uncertainty of competitive outcomes in an interview has an IQ below 75.

Have I missed something?

I think it's a classification glitch. She has a learning disability which could be dispraxia or ADHD which means she has been erroneously classified as intellectually disabled.

I believe this might be the case too. I've never seen it mentioned that she has a diagnosis of anything other than Aspergers.

Congradulations on her win, but I'm wondering if her qualifying time was good enough for her to place on the UK's regular Olympics swim team, and if so, why did she not become a member?

RIGHT: This is my third attempt at posting to this thread, and hopefully (the apparently random crankiness of WP notwithstanding )it will be successful.


While I have a great deal of respect for paralympians in general, could someone please explain to me:

How on earth Asperger Syndrome is meant to be an inherent disadvantage to a professional swimmer, within the meaning of the term 'paralympian'?

The chief characteristics of the cpndition that is apparently regarded as a sporting disability in this athlete's -personal situation are generally typified by socio-cognitive deficits and reduced or wholly qbsent responsiveness to neurotrypica standards such as perceived social cues, social contexts and shared implicit understandings.

SO: Hhow on eatrh is AS relevant to the professional pursuit of a Helix sport like swimming, let alone inductably conducive to excellence or proficiency in any given helix sport you might like to consider?

Does she have a comorbid and field-specific condition such as (for example) dyspraxia?

Can someone please explain the relevance (or otherwise) of this paralympian's case of AS to her chosen field of swimming:?

Because -- call me blinkered if you like -- I just can't get my head round it!

According to another British paper Jessica suffers from a range of conditions including autism (I'll assume HF), learning difficulties and dyslexia. In addition she had an operation her feet?

Her winning time of 2 minutes and 12.6 seconds is well behind the Women's 200m world record of 1 minute 51 seconds. My guess is she would have to break the 2 minute barrier in practice to break into the Olympic team.

From reading her website it's pretty obvious she has something from her writing style, it's repetitive but simplistic.

I think she has an official IQ somewhere between 70 and 75, so she makes the aspergers diagnosis and qualifies for the thing.

Not wanting to take the gloss of her gold medals but she comes across like a typical confident NT. I think she is using the paralympics to get a leg up into competitive swimming as she probably wouldn't qualify for the regular British swimming team.

Under this criteria any NT with a learning disability could qualify for the paralympics. Heck! I have lower back pain so I might have a go at the Australian paralymic swimming team myself.

Hate to burst all of your bubbles, but aspies shouldn't be in the Paralympics. I can see no reason in hell why she can't join a normal team in the non-disabled Olympics. This is an example of well-intentioned people who don't understand the fact that we don't want to be patronized, we want to be like everyone else, and we not just want to, but can and should. Aspergers isn't a disability.

While I agree that autistics should be in regular schools and olympics or regular whatever as much as possible a lot of us do not want to be like everybody else but just accepted for who we are which can never be normal whatever the hell that is.