Once again, I question normality...

I have been way into Tennessee Williams the last few weeks. My husband picked up a book called "Notebooks" for me to read. It's a collection of his journals from 1936-1981. It's is most intriguing most notably because he seems to have had insomnia and an anxiety disorder. It intrigued me to think about all the little pieces of the Autism Spectrum others have and yet are not Autistic.

So, what is normal? Is there a person out there who doesn't have some sort of "disorder"? We now have so many labels and diagnoses that I wonder if it's even possible to be disorder free. The latest one that has come to my attention is "Empathy Disorder"... meaning you are not a very sensitive person. Given that I am generally odd... my assessment would be that 99% of people have this disorder. Though I realized my perspective is skewed.

I just read Dr. Chew's latest blog about mitochondria disorder (find here http://www.autismvox.com/mitochondrial-disorders-common-in-the-general-population-but-what-about-for-autism/) and this furthers my thought process on disorders. The more I learn about Autism (despite its great help to my functionability) the more I wonder how long Autism has been filling our gene pool and if there is any "molecule" in this pool of the world that is not in some way affected by Autism Disorders/Symptoms. Just a thought.

Another interesting thought.... how much of my Autism Symptoms am I passing to my children as behavioral responses instead of neurological responses? Like when I have a "meltdown" or "zone out" my children learn this behavior. I have started noticing my son "zoning out" lately when there is a lot of conversation going on at the dinner table. It doesn't strike me as a symptom the way he does it, it strikes me has a learned behavior. He is doing his best to stay quiet so that Mommy and Daddy can catch up at the dinner table. When it's his turn to talk, he jumps right in.... and when his sister talks out of turn, he jumps right in to let her know it's Mommy and Daddy's turn. Just a thought.