Asperger's Syndrome is Scandinavian

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im from finland... lets just say that we rarely look in eyes(exsept someone is looking us) and ...i can answer any guestion u got if u want:P

I suspect this theory is derived from a gross oversimplification.

but

I defiantly have some Scandinavian ancestry most likely Danish.

As an older person with AS, this kind of racial profiling reminds me of what the Nazi's were thinking and doing, so you all need to think twice about somehow equating the "Nordics" with AS, and possibly with a "special" race of people.
Since the current world of engineers, computer programmers, etc., is full of people from Asia (India, Pakistan, Iran, China, Japan, etc.), and many of these people suffer from AS (and have autistic children), doesn't this suggest that AS could not possibly be restricted to Nordic types???
I admit that it is interesting to try to find the roots of AS in the general population, and I admit that there is probably a genetic "marker" for people who are predisposed to getting AS. In fact, I have blue eyes myself. But, you younger people with AS probably don't remember how the Nazis singled out the Nordic race as superior. And, this makes me just a little bit uncomfortable, even though I am probably of Nordic ancestry myself.

First, Alex, Who could say they KNOW they have NO scandinavian relatives?

Some say that russia means "land of the vikings"! As for germany? They USED to speak mainly platt deutsch, which is VERY similar to scandinavian languages. The scandinavians, dutch, austrians, germans, and swiss OBVIOUSLY had some tight relationships that even extended to areas like africa, england, and the US. That ALSO means that there is some relationship to the Ashkenazi jews as well! HECK, Danish words were changed slightly in hoch deutsch, and then changed in yiddish which Ashkenazi jews speak to this day!

I don't know if this theory has any merit, but the posts trying to put it down clearly have LESS merit!

English is said to come mainly from german and danish, though that was obviously a long time ago. danish is VERY similar to norwegian and swedish and, to a lesser degree, finnish. danish, dutch, and german, and a lot of yiddish, are probably about as similar as languages can get, without someone wondering if the only difference was dialect.

One of the standard running jokes on "A Prairie Home Companion", which is an American public radio show hosted by Garrison Keillor, concerns the Norwegian Bachelor Farmers on the prairies of Minnesota. A standing joke on the show are the “Norwegian Bachelor Farmers,” who are trapped in their celibacy by the demands and remoteness of the farm, and by their native reserve.

The station is “sponsored” by imaginary products such as “Powder Milk Biscuits,” whose slogan is "Made from whole wheat raised in the rich bottomlands of the Lake Wobegon river valley by Norwegian bachelor farmers; so you know they're not only good for you, but pure . . . mostly. Buy them ready-made in the big blue box with the picture of the biscuit on the cover, or in the brown bag with the dark stains that indicate freshness. Whole wheat that gives shy persons the strength to get up and do what needs to be done. Heavens they're tasty, and expeditious!"

http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/

Scandinavians are not socially awkward. They are merely not as loud in their social interactions as people in most other countries!
Plus tha lack of sunlight has a way of depressing people up here, and depressed people don't socialize well.

By the way, even if aspergers is tied to genes that originated in scandinavia. Who says that it is bound to the same genes that cause eyecolor?
An aunt of mine once made my family tree, and my family hasn't "mixed" with non-danes for 9 generations, and yet I have brown eyes.

Forgive me for saying this and maybe there is some Scandinavian ancestry that goes way way back but neither me nor my whole family have blue eyes except some hazel green, does that count? I don't really know though, I can't go that far back in my family's history except the stories of each generation having some mental and alcoholic disorder.

Interesting . . . I am half-Swedish . . . I have heard a variation of that theory, that Asperger's "evolved" in the northern European/Scandinavian populations and may even be a result of Neanderthal/Cro-Magnon hybridization.

Also, don't forget the Vikings were great rovers and plunderers and no doubt left descendants all over the place. People could have Scandinavian genes and not know it. In my family's case the Asperger's "line" seems to come down my mother's side which is primarily French Canadian/British Isles--places the Vikings were known to frequent.

I think it's also possible that AS pre-dates human expansion around the world. I mean it could be as old as our species, or older. Maybe something like AS exists in other primates as well. Who knows.

I've got Swedish family. Russian as well.

I have often suspected that runner Paavo Nurmi had strong AS tendencies. He was very remote, very driven and his running became an obsession to the point that it ruined his marriage.