Last July, Steven Miller, a university librarian, came across an article about a set of neurological conditions he had never heard of called autistic spectrum disorders. By the time he finished reading, his face was wet with tears.

“This is me,” Mr. Miller remembers thinking in the minutes and months of eager research that followed. “To read about it and feel that I’m not the only one, that maybe it’s O.K., maybe it’s just a human difference, was extremely emotional. In a way it has changed everything, even though nothing has changed.”

Mr. Miller, 49, who excels at his job but finds the art of small talk impossible to master, has since been given a diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome, an autistic disorder notable for the often vast discrepancy between the intellectual and social abilities of those who have it.

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 29 Apr 2004
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