Well …, duh!
Your Child’s Disorder May Be Yours, Too [NY Times]
[A]fter Phil and Susan Schwarz received a diagnosis for their son, Jeremy, of high functioning autism, they began to think carefully about their own behaviors and histories.Mr. Schwarz, a software developer in Framingham, Mass., found in his son’s diagnosis a new language to understand his own life. His sensitivities when growing up to loud noises and bright light, his own diffidence through school, his parents’ and grandparents’ special intellectual skills — all echoed through his and Jeremy’s behavior, like some ancient rhythm. [10/18/2009: We've always been here, now there's a term for it. For many of us, nothing has changed, just a, "So that is what you call it…"]
His son’s diagnosis, Mr. Schwarz said, “provided a frame in which a whole bunch of seemingly unrelated aspects of my own life growing up fit together for the first time.” (more)
Not to sound snotty about geek parents with a fresh diagnosis of high-functioning saying, “he’s not weird, he’s just like me”, mind you. OK, maybe a little. [Now (10/18/2009) there is a smile of recognition. "Welcome home!"]
This is just more grist for the notion that all this identified autism is not a fresh and growing epidemic. We are just developing the perceptions that places this particular suite of neurological conditions both in sharper focus and in a larger perspective of our behaviors. Especially when more and more people realize that these behaviors might actually be rather familiar after all, it just has a label now.