Why is every weird person a suspected aspie?

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I don't pay any attention to celebrities. I think I know what Elaine is saying. She didn't say all autistics are dependent on their parents. The more severely affected ones are....not the mildly possible autistic folks.

^^ I see your 50% and I raise. 75%.

It's hard to believe that any celebrities could be on the spectrum because many autistic people struggle to be independent and not depend on their parents for a place to live and transportation.

Dan Aykroyd and Daryl Hannah are my two favourite Autistic celebrities from way back in the 80s. Anyone remember Ghostbusters & Blade Runner? Not to mention Coneheads, Dragnet, Splash and Wall Street?

Suffice it to say, they both suffer from the same form of Autism as I do, Asperger's Syndrome, and they have both made an extremely good living for themselves.

And... they're still alive. And that's doubly amazing considering they're both Hollywood actors and Autistic.

I am not going to diagnose or not diagnose Dan Ackroyd.

I would advise being careful about claiming he is an Aspie. In 2013 he claimed he was diagnosed in the early eighties at a time when the diagnosis was exceedingly rare. Then later on he changed his story claiming he was self diagnosed.

Aspergers discussed at 11:40


Loved his comedy since the 70's yep, Aspie presentation yep, but I can not in good conscience call him an Aspie because of the issues noted above.

I'm actually more annoyed by people who say it's totally absurd to suspect someone to be aspie no matter who. E.g. there's an old thread were people say it's totally laughable than Eminem could have Aspergers, but we know now he has it (at least he has said that himself).

That's how I see it: 1) People who are creative, inventive, make eccentric, innovative, maybe weird art like music, films etc. have a tendency to be not neurotypical. Being creative often comes with ofter stuff like depression, ADHD, ASD or schizophrenia (with these conditions being comorbid as well...) 2) Many adults are still not diagnosed even though they fit the criteria. There's also many stereotypes like that aspies would always be the kind of "super smart shy computer guy" type, so people in showbiz might not get the idea they could be affected. Also, women are under-diagnosed. 3) Even if diagnosed (or self-diagnosed, self suspected) not everyone will want to talk about it. They might simply not care about it, or they might be afraid to talk about it (having ASD as a prog rock musician is something different than having ASD as a teen popstar).

That means that we only see the tip of the ice berg. In reality, there are way more famous people that are not neurotypical than we currently know of. Just like more people are coming out as homosexuals these days, there will be more and more people coming out as aspies.


Social awkwardness, not fitting in and being obsessive belong to the core characteristics of autism. If someone has all of these traits, it's difficult for me to see how this person could NOT be at least borderline autistic (except if these traits are caused by a psychiatric illness by schizophrenia).

DSM-5 ASD criteria consist of two main traits:
-Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts
-Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities

It's hard to believe that any celebrities could be on the spectrum because many autistic people struggle to be independent and not depend on their parents for a place to live and transportation.

I would be careful about using a single video on YouTube to discount his Autistic diagnosis which has been made public for many years now. His wife first suspected and he's gone on record saying that he has Asperger's Syndrome in the past and he's been interviewed by several Autism groups.

The video you provided only proves that he's still in the arrogance and denial phase and still in acceptance mode. That in itself proves that he has Asperger's Syndrome.

Careful now.

Which diagnosis should I not discount the one in the early 80’s or the self diagnosed one?

You ask me to not discount his diagnoses based on one video yet you “diagnose” him with denial based on one video.

I do not know if he is an aspie or not and since I like him it would be cool if he is one. It is my inclination is to accept claims of ASD diagnosis be it proffessional or self. But inclination does not mean blanket acceptance. And just because it is widely accepted does not mean it is true. I am an outlier on this issue, nothing new for me I am an Aspie.