Dan Aykroyd reveals struggles with Asperger and Tourette's

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Dan Aykroyd got the idea for "Ghostbusters" from an obsession with ghosts he developed from his Asperger syndrome. Oddly, this says he was diagnosed in the 1980s and I'd swear I read a different article some time ago that said he was diagnosed as a child, around the age of 9.


>>Dan Ackroyd on Asperger Syndrome<<


Funny, just the other day I was just saying something in a post about how I'd like to see Mister Ackroyd take a more active role in autism awareness. Is it a Christmas miracle, or is he an anonymous WP member?

The article seems to say that he was diagnosed with high functioning autism as a child and diagnosed with AS in the 1980s. I have seen quotes saying he was diagnosed with AS in the 1960s, but that's obviously impossible.

Not impossible, AS has been a valid diagnosis since Hans Asperger first delineated it in 1947. It wasn't added to the DSM until 1994, but the DSM is a product of the American Psychiatric Association, and not used by all countries.

The World Health Organization uses the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. Dan is Canadian, I have no idea what diagnostic criteria they were using in Canada in the 60s.

So this article says it was HFA at age 12, not 9. My bad.

Actually yes impossible. Hans Asperger did not define "Asperger's Syndrome" in 1947. He observed autistic boys, named what they had as "Autistic Psychopathy" (or, basically, autistic personality disorder, not what psychopathy means these days), and his paper basically languished until Lorna Wing brought it to the English speaking world in the late 70s and proposed "Asperger's Syndrome" to describe autistic people who start speaking when expected.

He could easily have been diagnosed with autism in the late 60s and later on as an adult rediagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome in the 80s, as he said. It's not that much of a stretch to just say he was diagnosed with AS in the 60s even though no one was literally diagnosed as such until the 80s.

Well for all those people who are always bringing up Einstein, Newton, etc, check this out - one of the guys responsible for the original SNL episodes was an Aspie. Now that's Aspie genius confirmed!