Autism Vox

Stupid and Smart

by Kristina Chew, PhD on January 11th, 2007

So says 23-year-old Nicole Kaim, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, in a article in the January 9th Boston Globe

“The problem with Asperger’s is you’re stupid and smart at the same time.”

Kaim was diagnosed with depression at the age of 15 and has been hospitalized twice for it, in her senior year of high school and after leaving Bryn Mawr College where dormitory life, being away from home, the lagtime between classes, and more were too much. Kaim is now taking courses at the Harvard Extension School. She notes:

“In theory I’m proud to be unique in this particular way, but in practice it just creates a lot of unhappiness, so I have very conflicted feelings.”

Go here to read “I didn’t know where people like me were,” which provides a fine and nuanced portrait of Kaim.

In a Starbucks cup in her bedroom, she keeps treasures found on the ground — seeds that resemble heads of clubs that were scattered along the riverbank in Watertown, dark seeds hard as stones that were strewn in Harvard Yard. “Nobody was noticing them, and they were everywhere,” she says. “They were gorgeous.”

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POSTED IN: Adulthood, Asperger's Syndrome, College, Education, Health, Psychiatry, Psychology