Dave Plummer is a software engineer who formerly worked at Microsoft, for several decades, and was quite a star developer there. He is the author of many of the most important and influential Windows features and programs, such as the original Task Manager application, the disk formatter, zip folders, and many others (either as the original author or as part of a team). Needless to say, he is arguably one of the best and most influential software engineers out there, whose code is running in millions and millions of Windows systems out there and who shaped the operating system.
He has a YouTube channel, and watching his videos gives a picture of a very intelligent and smart person who can express himself very clearly, who is fully aware of everything that's happening, who can perfectly well understand what's asked of him and who can respond to everything intelligently. And, no doubt, he was quite adept at his job at Microsoft, as he worked there for decades and was one of the most influential engineers in that company, and was clearly able to handle the stress and social interactions needed for such a job. He is also happily married and with children.
You might ask why I'm describing him like this. The title of this blog post gives a hint of why.
You see, he has also made a lot of videos about him having been diagnosed with "autism" as an adult. One example here.
So let me get this straight: From all I can see and know about him, he seems very intelligent, very socially adept, he is fully aware of everything that's happening, has absolutely no problems in having a very normal intelligent conversation, is completely able to interact with other people, doesn't seem to have any problems in his life, was able to not only keep a highly demanding job but was quite stellar in it, is happily married... and apparently he has "autism", say some doctors.
I just don't buy it. How can a completely normal person like this have "autism"?
In the video I linked above he gives a few examples of how his alleged "autism" affects his life. A couple of examples are that he sometimes has trouble understanding how others are feeling, from their social cues, and he has trouble being in huge crowds of people for many hours on end (he gives the example of going to Disneyland with his family, and having to "take a break" from the crowds after a couple of hours).
So he sometimes has trouble reading people's social cues, and he sometimes gets a bit anxious in large crowds. Well whoopty doo. Welcome to the human condition. This is what we call a completely normal human being. Not everybody can read other people's minds, and not everybody is comfortable in large crowds. This is like your completely normal everyday healthy person.
"Autism" is not a medical diagnosis. It's a psychological diagnosis, and it has no test. You can't take a blood sample or a brain scan and determine that someone has "autism". It's simply a test of the person's reported behavior in given situations, and the subjective interpretation of the doctor of said test.
It's also largely a thing almost exclusive to the United States. Most other countries do not declare completely normally behaving people "autistic" because they might be a bit socially awkward, don't always read social cues, or get anxious in large crowds.
I think it's all bullshit.
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