That girl from America's next top model.

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That last video is telling; no one with severe social impairment could make eye contact and interact like that. Her verbal and non-verbal communication was "normal". Her inflection was fine, "normal" posture, no motor mannerisms and she reciprocated social gestures adequately.

"Mild".

I don't see the point in dwelling on whether she is "autistic enough" or not. There is no adequate way of determining that for sure just from a few short videos alone.

She did look quite "normal" to me in the last video, and if I were talking to her, I'd probably never suspect she was AS. But then there seem to be quite a few people who were very obviously ASD in childhood, but learned to adjust later on and can at least approximately pass for "normal" (whatever that is). On the other hand, there are plenty people who talk in a fairly unusual manner and may give an "odd" impression without being autistic. Every time I watch a big cat program on Animal Planet I listen to Saba Douglas-Hamilton doing just that, and to the best of my knowledge, she is nowhere close to autistic.

I have a feeling that I may come across as far more "off" than Heather does, especially when I'm nervous, stressed, tired and/or have had an overdose of caffeine; and I never received an official diagnosis and may or may not be on the spectrum.

So perhaps it's better not to go about implying that someone's diagnosis is fake or that they are less autistic than they claim, or whatever, because there is no real way of proving it.

Just watched that last interview, she really froze when he shook her hand.

It looked like she was waiting for him to finish speaking when she took his hand; she didn't interrupt him throughout. The only sign I see was when she stammered a little near the end, but then, once out of the whole lot is probably normal for everyone considering the situation.

I guess there could have been a lot of outtakes, but I'm assuming she'd be far more stressed the longer it drew on.

I've been following this thread off and on since Heather was revealed to have AS on ANTM and I'm a bit shocked by how people on this site have reacted to her. You'd think that everyone would be THRILLED to have a positive face for AS on TV. I have discovered over the years though that when something good happens, people like to break it down. I, for one, was very excited that someone with AS was being shown on TV. I didn't worry for a second that she "wasn't autistic enough" or didn't have AS.

How can any of you presume to know if she's not really autistic or doesn't have AS? As far as I know, NO ONE on this site has first hand knowledge of Heather. Videos prove nothing. She's got an official diagnosis and that's all that should matter. Just because she doesn't act or look like some people on this site doesn't mean she doesn't have AS.

I think everyone here needs to be happy that we're being positively represented and stop trying to analyze who Heather is.

I agree with you, sonny1471. I can see that she's lightly impaired by touch, unpredictable things, etc.

It IS a prsumption to go by ONE video of someone and KNOW that they can't have AS. From one interaction you can KNOW that someone doesn't have AS? That makes absolutely no sense at all. Obviously the doctor that diagnosed her doesn't know what he's talking about then.

A single video can't be used as any sort of "evidence" that a person isn't autistic. That's one snippet of their life and a snippet isn't an accurate representation of how someone is all the time. Viewing a video and jumping to a conclusion doesn't mean the person isn't autistic or have AS.

Danielismyname - I've seen your comments in other threads about someone not having AS because they don't exhibit the same symptoms or the same degree in those symptoms as you. Not everyone is the same. Yes, the diagnostics give you a set of symptoms but, even within those diagnostic criteria, there are differences. AND you don't have to exhibit all symptoms in each category to be diagnosed.

I'm certainly no expert when it comes to AS and I don't think most people on this site are. We can only use our own experiences and interactions to make presumptions and assumptions. I like facts and accuracy too. The fact is that Heather's doctor diagnosed her with AS. How much more accurate can you get?

If Heather's doctor diagnosed her with AS, then who are we to say that she doesn't have it?

I'm not saying Heather is a success story, only that she puts a positive face on AS for many people who have never met or even heard of a person with AS. I think the community of WP should be pleased to have that exposure, but maybe I'm wrong in MY assumption.

My experience with autism has been this: children are often misdiagnosed with other things. They are NEVER misdiagnosed as Asperger's. Just doesn't happen. It's the extreme end of the spectrum, so to speak.

Alex, I like your new photo.

I think the point is moot. What I have discovered on this website (everyone fall down on your knees and worship Alex for 30 seconds, please) is that autism has lots of faces as well as functioning levels. We all range in many different directions. Some of us all at once.

The way we react to our environments is also this way. Some of us do it better than others of us. We almost all have some sort of sensory issue that at any given time can range from NT on the quirky side to completely and utterly debilitating. It doesn't make us any more or less valid in reference to the spectrum.

Sometimes people on here exclude self-dxed people or people showing curiosity and exploring the realm of autism as if they have no right to exist. I suppose that it's the way that they've been treated and they like to pay it forward. We have to accept ourselves as a homogenous group with variations. Then we can work on the NTs.

Not really, going from that single video, as I said, she doesn't have it; there's no presumption there as the evidence is there for all to see. It's like saying someone has pneumonia, but they aren't experiencing a fever nor are they coughing on video (among the many other signs that point towards it). Doctors aren't infallible.

Actually, one video can; the symptoms of autism don't let up, nor can they be hidden. If they aren't there in situations which will cause them to show always due to very nature of the disorder, what's that say? It's either mild, it doesn't affect the individual (no point in diagnosing it), it's not there and/or it was a misdiagnosis.

Not really again, I just use myself as an example to make it more familiar; I use the diagnostic criteria as my objective source.

She doesn't meet the criteria for AS from that video, it's as simple as that.

I'm not going to continue to argue my point but I will say this: One video isn't enough evidence to tell you anything. She's not "hiding" her symptoms or anything. It's quite possible they aren't manifesting at that time. You can absolutely have pneumonia and be videotaped and not be shown coughing. And you can't see someone has a fever from a video.

All I'm saying is that you can't make a judgement call from a single video. That's not enough evidence. If that were the case, I'd say, from my perspective, the earth looks flat so it must be flat. Sounds silly, doesn't it? That's an exaggerated version of what you're saying.