The article by Professor James (January 2003 JRSM¹) was of considerable interest to me, though as a surgeon I cannot claim expert knowledge of mental processes. Asperger's syndrome appears to be a higher form of autism with full possession of intellectual faculties, as possibly exemplified by his examples of Newton, Einstein and Cavendish, but with an inability to form social and emotional bonds. I used to be a member of Mensa but left after realizing that 90% of the members were incapable of maintaining their end of a conversation and had difficulty in expressing any personal warmth; the only emotion I ever encountered was naked aggression.

Doctors like to wrap an insoluble problem in a syndrome because it gives them the satisfaction of pigeonholing a patient and restores their authority, enabling them to say ‘You have X syndrome but there is no treatment’ rather than confess they are completely at a loss. This satisfies patients as well, who are more than likely to wear their label as a badge of pride. I think that Asperger was only describing a variant of normal. If it is an abnormal state, there must be thousands of cases in this country, myself included.