Asperger Syndrome - experiences by Gerrit Holl

Asperger Syndrome is a form of high functioning autism. For those of you who don't know what it is yet: an excellent, comprehensive explanation can be found at the Asperger Syndrome lemma at Wikipedia. A more relaxed introduction is given by the article The Geek Syndrome, Wired magazine, October 2001. For those who have time, I advice to read the book by Mark Haddon: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. This excellent book gives the neurologically typical insight in the life of an Asperger. A more fun book about a more highly functioning Asperger is Naiv. Super. by Erlend Loe (originally in Norwegian, but also available in English translation.

At this website, you can (soon) find a number of autobiographical stories about Asperger Syndrome. All are written by myself. At the moment, there are three completed stories at the Dutch section of this site. I am planning on translating those and adding more.

In my life, I mainly experience Asperger Syndrome because empathy is underdeveloped. I am bad at recognising and understanding non-verbal communication: I can get the gist, but not the motivation or the nuance. My mirror neurons are absent or not working. A consequence is that I find it difficult to understand other people, and other people find it difficult to understand me.

In the past years, I have learned a lot about life and I am still learning in at a fast pace.

The horrors of an Asperger on a Project Week

This article is about a project week that I took part in in the autumn of 2001. I experienced a number of unpleasant experiences, as well as a number of experiences typical of Asperger. The text can be read online.

Last update: 5 July 2007 (translation)

foto of Gerrit on TV
thanks go to Ben Koopmanschap for the image

Algemene ervaringen met het Asperger Syndroom

This is the oldest story at my homepage. The first version was written in October 1999, when I was at secondary education in The Netherlands. It is mainly oriented at my experiences in pre-scientific education (high school). It can be read here in Dutch. An English translation will follow.

Last update: 29 October 2004

TV

On Tuesday 22 October 2002, I was on television with the program Gezondheidsplein by AVRO. I could tell about my life and Asperger Syndrome in approximately three and a half minute. It was an interesting experience for me.

Utrecht central station

On the 28 November 2003, I was in Utrecht to buy a present. It has a horrible experience, particularly Utrecht Central Station, one week before Sinterklaas. It was even worse than a trip to a city (usually Amsterdam) already is for me. The text can be read online in Dutch. An English translation will follow.

Last update: 13 December 2003

Who I am and what I do is also at my website (but is less interesting). I have written a lot more than what is published on my site. Perhaps I will publish it later. Perhaps not.