Asperger's and the Amazing Race
The pressure of getting little sleep, fighting traffic, struggling with jet lag, getting lost and eating weird foods would crush me more than my first love. How do the teams on Amazing Race travel around the world doing these things and not crack up? I couldn't imagine doing what they do -- especially if I had a disability. The son who was deaf did well in the last series of the show. On the new series, starting Sunday, Sept. 27, one young man has Asperger's. Please let me know more about this condition. I have a few friends whose children are in the Asperger's/Autism spectrum, and I'd like to know more about how it affects people. How can a challenge like the Amazing Race be even more challenging -- or will the condition/disability (forgive me, I'm not sure how to describe it) serve as an advantage in some way?
Life with Asperger's
My 8-year-old son has Asperger's, so I may tune in this season. For Tommy, the condition comes with a love of routine and difficulty with transitions and organization, which of course would be hard on a challenge like Amazing Race. He also takes things very literally (he has a hard time telling when people are joking), tends toward obsessive interests (for a while it was dinosaurs, now it's haunted houses) and can't always read people's feelings, such as when they're bored with a conversation on his favorite topic. But at the same time, I can see some advantages. He has no inhibitions about striking up a conversation with a stranger (it doesn't occur to him to be shy or that someone might find him weird) and has somewhat of a disconnect that can shield him from being hurt or embarrassed. It's hard to describe... like he doesn't mind playing in the mulch by himself at recess if nobody else wants to, and he doesn't have the feeling of isolation that I probably would. He just does his own thing and doesn't buy into peer pressure, at least right now. He also is fearless in terms of tackling new physical challenges. So maybe he'd be good at the Amazing Race... that is, if he could manage not to lose every ticket given to him!
Alison Johnson