Did John Denver have Asperger's Syndrome?

Answer 1

Whomever posted to following answer did not address the question whatsoever. I certainly do not know on what grounds people may suspect that John Denver had Asperger's. But you definitely cannot DISPROVE that he had Asperger's by listing a few traits that have no relationship whatsoever to Asperger's.

To clarify:

-- blunted emotions are not a symptom of Asperger's, the disorder does not prevent or mask emotions

--hyper-sensitivity to touch or disliking being touched is NOT a symptom of Asperger's, so touchy-feely has no bearing on the question

--writing ability is not affected by Asperger's, there is no delay in language skills associated with Asperger's

I think the originalanswer-erhas clearly confused Asperger's with another disorder or maybe they knew one person with Asperger's who also had these traits. There may be some confusion because one of the telltale symptoms of Asperger's is "Appearing not to understand, empathize with or be sensitive to others' feelings" This refers to the tendency of folks with Asperger's to frequently be considered "inconsiderate" by others due to the fact that Aspies sometimes don't know how to hold up their end of a social interaction. For example, if your friend with Asperger's (you probably can't tell most of the time) makes up their mind to tell you everything they know on a subject, it will be difficult to deter them. So you may think, wow Jim was really rude I was trying to tell him about my divorce but he just continued on and on about his new dog. Jim isn't oblivious to the pain of divorce, but doesn't know the appropriate response. I had an Aspie friend who NEVER spoke to his housemate unless rent was due. Not hello. Not goodbye. Not I'm headed to bed see you tomorrow. The housemate of course thought this was bizarre bordering on insane. But the Aspie housemate just figured their living arrangement was entirely separate from their friendship and assumed the roomie didn't want to be burdened with having to be social every day. Asperger's Syndrome makes it difficult to understand social norms that are considered "common sense" by everyone else.

"Where on earth did you get this idea? Friends and relatives describe Denver as an emotional,touchy-feely guy who loved physical affection-hugs and kisses and all that.He could not have written so many emotionally affective songs if he had any autistic leanings at all.He could be moody,and his psychologist ex-wife thinks he may have suffered from bi-polar depression,but no,there is no record of Denver having any disorder of this type and the evidence is very much against it."