Charity Cases

[jazing]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Yes to all this. FWIW, my understanding is that when an Asperger's diagnosis is being made, Tourette Syndrome is one of the diagnoses that needs to be ruled out.

That is quite correct, Tourettes needs consistent motor tics above everything else (which comes with Autistic disorders). If that is not met, then other options are looked at.

I will just say this is still on going (spoke too soon earlier), but thanks for all your input.

As for secrets, I don't trust him. In order to give a bid, you need to have trust the person will not reveal anything. Sure pledging has aspects of this to test, but dropping someone can feel a lot worse than not giving a bid.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by jazing

I will just say this is still on going (spoke too soon earlier), but thanks for all your input.

I'll agree with those who said that you don't have to be a friend to be a brother. I'll just throw out there -- as a parent of a kid with Asperger's -- that I don't think you'd be doing him any favors to give him a "charity bid." I fear you'd be setting him up for some major difficulty. People with Asperger's can certainly learn to navigate socially, and I suppose it could happen in a fraternity context, but I think it's more likely that it would be terribly stressful for everyone and wouldn't be the way for him to develop social skills. It could make things worse for him.

As for secrets, I don't trust him. In order to give a bid, you need to have trust the person will not reveal anything.

The ability to keep secrets is certainly a reasonable expectation for a brother. I just wouldn't assume that any inability to keep secrets has anything to do with Asperger's -- frankly, I've never encountered that as an "Asperger's trait." If anything, I think it more likely that someone with Asperger's -- who tend to want to follow rules and have everyone else follow rules -- would probably be fairly careful about keeping secrets. My kid is.

But, as others have said, Asperger's can be very different from person to person.