Here's a copy of the letter that I sent to Alex about this, including the interview and facts supporting my point of view:
Quote:
I just can't let this one slip by...I know that Ackroyd said in an interview (partial transcript -
Dan Ackroyd - Asperger Syndrome) that he was diagnosed with Asperger's as a 12 year old; however, this is just not possible.
The term Asperger's was not even coined until 1981, by Lorna Wing.
Origin of term "Asperger's Syndrome" - Lorna Wing - 1981 - from article by Tony AttwoodThe diagnostic criteria were not developed until 1989.
Ackroyd is less than a month younger than I, at 55 years old, and there was no diagnosis of Asperger's at that point in our lives. He may well self-identify with Asperger's as an adult (though sometimes it's hard to tell when he's joking). Nonetheless, please don't perpetuate the story about him actually being diagnosed at the age of 12. For whatever reason he said that, it's not true. I even feel mocked by him in that interview.
When I first looked this topic up, less than two years ago, there were only a couple of references to it; now the listings seem endless. This is taking on the essence of an urban legend, and it does not dignify the WP site to repeat it.
There must be someone who is upfront and recently diagnosed that you can use as an Aspie exemplar, but Ackroyd is not the one. People take what you put up on the home page as gospel, and this is not factual.
Heck, even the NT interviewer thought that he was joking. He may have been diagnosed with something like childhood schizophrenia, as was often the case at the time, and he may identify with Asperger's, for all I know, but he
did not receive a diagnosis of Asperger's as a preteen, and that is a fact, and so calls everything else he said in this interview into question.