Susan Boyle Diagnosed with Aspergers

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To me it was obvious from the first moment I saw her online that she has NLD. Which explains the AS diagnosis, as most adults with NLD nowadays are diagnosed with AS. I'm her same age and have NLD but was diagnosed with AS. What I do have, however, is brain damage. Which is caused by being born with one of the several kinds of autistic brains, a kind that is extremely vulnerable to brain damage and very often the brain damage happens soon enough, even at birth itself. So almost all her diagnoses are correct: autistic, birth complications and brain damage. But not AS. Her forward, outpouring, self-monitoring poor social relating is typical of NLD and atypical in AS (eg. see the "Amanda, you too!" moment during the judges' verdict).

I absolutely adore her singing, regardless of who or what she is, I think she sings more beautifully than even E. Page, her role model.

I'm so very happy that we now have someone to point people to and say "you know, like Susan Boyle".

From day one of her success I've been praying that her siblings don't cheat her out of her fortune. I nowadays know they've already tried, and she had to get restrain orders.

But whatever condition she has, what the world is elated about is to see that a human can succeed at dodging the politics and become famous, thanks to the directness of the internet. And that a human can have a complete and sudden life change for the better in the 2nd part of her life.

I'm not what I would call a fan of hers, but I have to imagine she is a real hero to most of us with Asperger's. Announcing her diagnosis to the world is no different from a professional ball player announcing he is gay. These disclosures quickly become yesterday's news, but each new one makes acceptance more and more widespread and dispels the rumors and myths. Here's to hoping Boyle is the first in a long line of public Asperger's disclosures!

No.

Why not? It does take courage to make your AS diagnosis public. She's opening herself up to prejudice; she could just keep it secret. But she believes in being honest, or wants to show her solidarity with other autistics, or wants to be an example of an autistic person who's a decent human being, or just wants to stop masquerading as NT. Whatever her reasons, it's not something a person does without being willing to take some risks for a good reason.

I remember when I first "came out" as autistic. It was a little bit scary to connect my real-life name with my online persona for the first time. People can Google me and track me down if they want. It's a risk, however minor. For someone like Susan Boyle, the risks are bigger--but then again, so are the rewards. I figure she thought it was worth it.

I figured she was. Glad she finally knows.

Who knows, she might be encouraged to join Wrong Planet one day .

The way she answered questions very honestly but in a non polished sort of way. Also the way she sat and moved. It was like she was oblivious about being politically correct or following any sort of etiquette. It was actually really refreshing and wonderful. She was so real and honest and true to herself. I really loved that about her. And she was very blunt too. But she wasn't rude by any means at all, just very raw in a very good and refreshing way. She also looked like she felt a bit awkward in the interview like she was not sure how to be in it. But her heart really came through and I think we fell in love with her even more that day. In fact, I just bought her second Christmas CD today. I have not heard the whole thing yet but I like it so far. I really loved the first Christmas CD.

She's not the first. Aside from people who are essentially famous for being autistic (Temple Grandin, Luke Jackson, Amanda Baggs, Alex Plank, John Elder Robison), there is Courtney Love, Satoshi Tajiri (creator of Pokémon), music critic Tim Page, Craig Nicholls of The Vines, actress Daryl Hannah, Adam Young of Owl City, and pop musician Example.