Did Tim have aspergers ?
Those who live with it, what do you think.
Pepper Pot #1 "BURMA!"
Pepper Pot #2 "Why'd you say Burma?"
Pepper Pot #1 "I panicked"
Did you watch this last night in the UK as well.
I'm not sure what was supposed to be wrong, as he didn't exactly come across as as simple as his family seemed to believe he was. Plus Mary was able to teach him to read, at least to an extent, despite him saying he couldn't learn.
Yes, watched this the other night in the UK and was moved by it just as I was years before I even knew what Aspergers was, just thought this was a nice story about not dismissing people with a disability.
I may be totally off the mark but it seems to me that Tim, rather than having a huge learning disability, is actually socially challenged, coupled a minor learning deficiency. People with high functioning autism can be difficult to educate even with a diagnosis, if you don't know what your dealing with it's easy to just label them unteachable or simple.
Pepper Pot #1 "BURMA!"
Pepper Pot #2 "Why'd you say Burma?"
Pepper Pot #1 "I panicked"
I agree, while I don't know that much about Aspergers or autism, he just didn't come across as what we commonly understand as retarded. Obviously it's fiction, and you don't know what the people involved in the book and the film's production intended, but he seemed to be some one with social difficulties rather than a lack of intelligence. I mean would you really trust some one you regarded as 'thick' to maintain your house and garden. Or was it just the garden? But still, there are loads of people out there, who would consider themselves highly intelligent, who would have no idea about maintaining anything practical.
sharePeople with mild mental retardation would be capable of doing manual labor as well as clerical work.
Source: http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=10377&cn=208
Mildly MR, maybe an IQ in the 70's. Cause? Probably anoxia at birth hence he looks just fine.
But that's just a guess.
Maybe along the lines of Forrest Gump?
sharedo people diagnosed with aspergers become so social and demonstrative? He asked to be hugged. he thought mary didn't love him because she was hugging his father. he did n't understand having sympathy for others.
shareHe was nothing like people with autism. That's the last thing he was supposed to be. They dislike being hugged and don't understand emotions. Tim was more about emotions and his feelings than intelligence.
shareI know this is an old link and I have not watched the film but saying he is nothing link people with autism because "They dislike being hugged and don't understand emotions" sounds like someone that doesn't know what autism is. Autism is a spectrum disorder. Meaning there is a wide range of characteristics among people with autism. Many autistic children love to be hugged. They also understand emotions. I know this because my daughter has moderate autism and loves to be hugged. She can be just as emotional as anyone else. Point in fact, when she was told that her Grandmother had passed away she broke down in tears and said she wished she could go to heaven and bring her back. There is no "They" in autism. Each person is very individual.
shareI don't think he is meant to be anywhere on the autistic spectrum. I think he is a little "not the full quid" as his father said, in terms of conventional IQ, but his 'emotional intelligence' is obviously pretty good. I used to know a guy like that, and although he was a bit slow in some ways, in other ways he sometimes surprised me with his insight - when discussing movies, for instance. He was good at reading people.
I would not like to generalize about people with autism either, but my grandson is high functioning aspergers, and he has always loved his hugs. Where he is different from the average person is that he is not very persuadable. He likes things his own way, and unless he is already interested in something, you can't get him interested. And he is not concerned with social niceties, such as saying hello and how are you etc. He will just launch into talking about whatever he is interested in. I felt that Tim was too relaxed and easygoing to be aspergers. Just a thought anyway.
Besides, at the time when Colleen McCullough wrote the book, autism had hardly been talked about and was understood even less than it is now. Just doesn't seem like very likely subject matter.
The autism spectrum is so wide now it seems to be a name for anything from mental retardation to geniuses, even if the symptoms are different. Why couldn't Tim just be mentally retarded?
share