I am not sure whether it (autism) is occurring more
frequently, or it is just being recognized more often,
especially as forms other than the 'classic' variety
have been acknowledged - most for only a decade or so.

I think Mr. Ledgin intended to raise and broaden
awareness of autism spectrum disorders by drawing
attention to the possibility that such a well-known
figure as Jefferson might have had a condition on the
spectrum. Unfortunately, whether one can diagnosis a
person centuries dead, along with questions of
methodology and approach arise:

Does Ledgin implicitly compare Jefferson to his own
son, a young adult with Asperger Syndrome, making
THEIR similarity the determining factor? Does he in
fact create a separate category (the Asperger
"continuum") to make Jefferson fit? Are his choice and
use of sources  (biographies by writers with a variety
of purposes, painting a variety of their own portraits
of Jefferson) appropriate?

Does his effort hurt or harm the cause he espouses?

I think Ledgin makes a common fallacy of logical
argument (ad ?) when he tries to support his claim by
suggesting further that Jefferson relatives may have
also been autistic. He seems to prove nothing, but try
to suggest a great deal.

Although only identified in the 1940s, autism
presumably did exist - or at least the characteristics
identified now as autism did exist - before. Asperger
Syndrome (which Ledgin attempts to suggest Jefferson
had) was also identified then, but not formally
recognized (unlike 'classic' autism) until much more
recently. Thus, a person like myself, who went through
childhood, adolescence, and part of adulthood
unidentified as such, can recieve a diagnosis.

However, I am a living person, with a contemporary,
modern-style documented school and work history. One
can percieve now Asperger-type traits, and can
identify them in my own experience and that of others
with me. Jefferson is dead, his school and work
records would not have even been of the nature or
extent now known themselves, much less the terms and
perceptions for what was going on with him during his
life been what would be needed for an expert to say
one way or the other.

By the way, the Dustin Hoffman movie was 'Rainman.'
The character was a composite, and included
characteristics not exclusively autistic, or
definitively of one or another disorder on the autism
spectrum. Still, it was a good movie.

Jarl K. Jackson
--- Anne Pemberton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Joan, . . . .

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