Wikipedia’s article on “High-Functioning Autism and Asperger’s Editor’s” was very insightful in terms of describing who these people are.

The article describes how these individuals are different and explained some of these differences at length.  It is good to know that these individuals are employed in the “real world”, have rights within workplaces, and have a sense of autonomy.

The article indicated that all of Wikipedia’s employees (neurotypical, autistic and Aspergers), are expected to be creative in their problem solving.  This concept of finding different ways to approach and solve problems are often applied to the ways we use technology.  It seems to me that because these high-functioning individuals “like to fix things” and are good with “data storage, processing, indexing and have rapid access” (memory) they could be innovatively inclined.

Now that many more individuals are born into the autism/Asperger categories, and information around their conditions is widely available on line, is it possible that greater understanding can help pave the way to help these individuals become contributors in all areas of society?  I wonder if this is the case how technology might be utilized, given their unique abilities, and how they might be trained to utilize their skill sets.

In the article “The 36 People Who Run Wikipedia” Stephen Lurie notes how the impossible is quite possible – success can happen when lots, and lots of people come together to make or build something, and in this case every single human being can share in the sum of all knowledge”!  Given their interactions at Wikipedia, and their way of “knowing stuff”, it is apparent that these individuals likely enjoy their work as much as others do, gain a sense of pride and I imagine are quite satisfied with their contributions.  In fact, the article calls for a certain “gentleness” when some fact they know may not be quite right.

I wonder if any of the Wiki Stewards are on the autism spectrum.

Wikipedia’s article indicates that autistic individuals are called out around behavioral issues, so given that skill set, it seems there are less reasons for autism/Asperger people to not be engaged within other communities.