No One Understands

August , 18 2005

The ongoing adventure of Jeff Foreman

By Jody Sanderson – Oakville Today

Asperger Syndrome is a developmental disorder falling within the autistic spectrum, affecting social interaction, verbal and non-verbal communication with a reluctance to accept change. Symptoms include inflexibility of thought, which is exhibited in very narrow areas of interest, which the individual finds all consuming.

The syndrome is named for a Viennese doctor, Hans Asperger, who published a paper in the 1940's, describing this behaviour in several young boys. Each had normal intelligence and relatively normal verbal skills.

The severity of the symptoms range and not every child exhibits the same ones. For a long, long time, many successful people with Asperger's were never diagnosed. They were seen as brilliant, but eccentric.

Asperger Syndrome is much more common than Autism but is still a rare condition and few people, including professionals, know much about it and have less experience with it. Asperger Syndrome and Autism are both described as Pervasive Developmental Disorders, although a diagnosis of Asperger's is a pretty slippery thing to get, if you ask Beverly Foreman. Making friends is difficult because the subtlety of language, what's literal and what isn't, is difficult for them, as is making eye contact and communicating frustrations and anxieties. Jeff Foreman is 28 years old and Jeff has Asperger's. It's been a hell of journey getting to here from there when he was finally diagnosed at age 16, but Jeff developed an incredible determination while very young and it drives him still.

After those long early years of not being able to talk, not being able to communicate even when he did, the future seemed dim. Today Jeff is in his own apartment, works temporarily at a health centre and is currently working on his orange belt in karate. Which doesn't mean that life is working perfectly, because it's not. According to his mom, Jeff forgets to eat and struggles to get his routines in order. He's not quite independent, yet.

Jeff wrote a book about his life when he was nineteen, and his dream is to see it published.

There are wonderful companion pieces from his mom, and a remarkable text from his sister Amber, about life with her big brother. "Parents of children with Asperger's are still not getting proper diagnoses," says Beverly. "When these kids are in school, all of your focus is on keeping them there, socializing and educating them. But after school, there's another life to live. What happens then? For Jeff, it's important that people know what's going on."

The Foreman's are still hoping to get his book published, but in the meantime, hopefully, Jeff's voice won't be silenced. It's one we need to hear.