
Living with Williams Syndrome, the 'opposite of autism' - edward
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-26888280
======
_red
Its funny that this was just posted, because I was just at my local grocery
store. This store hires handicapped people to act as baggers - so I always
make sure to spend an extra moment after checkout thanking them and just
generally trying to expand the goodness in the world.

Funny enough, the bagger today had such a "handicap" as depicted here. He was
super outgoing, with a real infectious sense of interaction. He said to me
completely sincerely, "have you been keeping your energy up and yourself
positive?!?" and I stammered a bit and said I was sure trying.

Then he said, "you know, each day I try to appreciate how beautiful the sun
is, it really can help you keep your energy up! So keep yours up up up! That
way you can Rock On!"

There's not much you can say to that but to give him a high-five.

Having said that, I was thinking on the walk to the car how often his parents
must worry about him. Precisely because you could tell he was so outgoing he
would've been open to any suggestion "want to take a ride? want to go see the
lake? etc etc"

Nonetheless, it feels strange calling it a "handicap", he still bringing a
smile to face just thinking about how generally excited he was.

~~~
dublinben
>it feels strange calling it a "handicap"

I'm not sure why. If he could perform a better job, he wouldn't have been a
grocery store bagger. That he has found himself there strongly suggests that
his "handicap" affects his life in such a way as we might expect.

~~~
VMG
Interesting that you are getting a negative reaction here. I want to float
this controversial statement with the HN community:

Downs syndrome is a mental handicap and preventing the disease should be a
goal in science.

~~~
fecak
Down's is already 'prevented' in many cases, as the statistics for abortion of
Down's fetuses detected in utero show. Many with Down's can live rather full
lives, as some have rather mild differences in mental state than neurotypical
peers. Many participate in school without the need for extensive supports, and
function in work situations. There is a bit of a range in the abilities of
those with Down's.

~~~
VMG
There are other diseases that can be managed in a way that minimizes the
impact on quality of life. It's still preferable to prevent them.

------
mcphilip
Reading about this disorder reminds me of my sister. She has Down's Syndrome
and is one of my favorite people in the world. She has basically the same
strengths and weaknesses as WS -- open and friendly when not anxious, but
unable to determine when it is appropriate to trust someone. It's been a
blessing having her in my life. She's the linchpin of our family in many ways.
I'd probably be more of a black sheep in my family's eyes if it wasn't for
always being so excited to see me regardless of conflicting religious beliefs
with my family, etc.

The brain is an amazing instrument and it's fascinating (and scary) how it can
be wired so differently in edge cases, but deep down, no matter the
abnormality, there's a "soul" waiting to connect if you can meet them on their
terms.

~~~
NicoJuicy
A good friend of mine has a brother with Down Syndrom...

1 Evening, he said that he would take his brother home and then we would meet.
Saying that it is okay to bring along his brother to a local bar was one of
the most "rewarding" moment i ever felt...

Btw. The boy with down syndrome has a job, lives alone and even sings in
french in a quior.. :-) . He is alsof very social (talks to everyone in the
train, but i think he trusts people to easily, he made paintings every year
for our student club because we asked him every year if he wanted to go
swimming with us when we rented the pool for 30-40 people in the evening,
yearly tradition ).

You could really see his joy every time... Its awesome to see that a small
gesture can have such a big impact on someone

~~~
aramadia
fyi, its choir or quire, not quior :)

~~~
taejo
Singing in a quire would be interesting (a small book or pamphlet; a unit of
24 or 25 sheets of paper)

------
fibertera
When I first saw this headline I thought oh no, have we created another
"syndrome"? But after reading it I realize this is probably what my wife has.

in the last 17 years I've noticed all of these traits over and over. She's
extremely nice, friendly and approachable to the point where she's not only
vulnerable but people have said it's "annoying". She is constantly reaching
out, talking and being extremely friendly with people everywhere despite
having HUGE issues with anxiety.

She has some learning disabilities and issues and works in healthcare where
she is in a unique position because of her personality. She's unable to learn
or retain certain things beyond a base knowledge developed over the last 10
years or so. She struggles with charts and paperwork and hasn't been able to
move up beyond a certain level. She rarely makes mistakes but also doesn't
take any risks with patients and doesn't do a lot of critical care.

But the reason she hasn't been fired is quite simply because there would
probably be a revolt where she works. She is absolutely LOVED by the residents
of the facility, her coworkers and even management. She's a "ray of light"
that comes in and cheers everyone up no matter what and I honestly think if it
came down to it they'd pay her just to come in talk to people if they had to.

It's one of the things I fell in love with so long ago that makes the
downsides (frequent anxiety, OCD, over engagement etc) so much much worth it.
It's very hard to be in a bad mood around her.

I'm glad to have found this article and it even inspired me to create an
account just to post about this. It was eerie reading this article describing
my wife... even the "buzzing bee" thing. Absolutely intolerable to her.
Clicks, noises, things like that create great anxiety. But get her into a
crowd of people and she'll be talking, relating and stealing the show.

I'm definitely going to do some more research into this.

~~~
froxle
Williams syndrome is a CHROMOSOMAL disorder which has PROFOUND effects, not
just on personality but on physical appearance. It isn't all that common.

Please don't diagnose your wife with chromosomal disorders based on her being
friendly and anxious and bad at charts. Perhaps she has a learning disability,
like tons of other people.

~~~
danieltillett
It is a spectrum disorder where individuals with small deletions can be
regarded as normal. Fibetera's wife may well have a mild version - the only
way to know is to do a DNA test.

------
Asparagirl
Fun fact: people with Williams Syndrome lack inborn racism responses -- but
still make judgements based on sex.

[http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/williams-s...](http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/williams-
syndrome-kids-show-no-raci-10-04-13/)

~~~
blahedo
"Inborn racism responses"?

~~~
sp332
Babies don't immediately start with a different reaction to different kinds of
faces, but within a few months, they react differently to people who look more
(or less) like their mothers. It's not like there's a clear genetic dividing
line, it's just how similar people look.

Link: [https://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/article/umass-amherst-
psych...](https://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/article/umass-amherst-psychology-
research-suggests-infants-begin-learn-about-race-first-year)

------
tomphoolery
It's amazing how we can identify the exact brain disorder responsible,
directly or indirectly, for most British comedy of the early 20th century.

------
danieltillett
The wiki article on this syndrome is very interesting. Apparently there is a
substantial number of people with this genetic deletion that are not diagnosed
as they are cognitively normal. There does not seem to be a term for such
'mild' Williams syndrome like there is for autism.

~~~
colechristensen
There's a blurry line between 'diagnosed' and 'what kind of person you are'
which is increasingly being encroached upon by modern medicine. Certainly
there are lots of ways a person can be classified which only become a disorder
when they go above a certain magnitude.

Progress will be made into better classifying people so that more and more
regular folks can take advantage of strategies and 'treatments' to have a more
successful life (whatever that may be). With this comes the risk of
discrimination relying too heavily on these classifications, which, though
real, will never be fair to judge a person against.

~~~
danieltillett
This is certainly true - we are all carrying various mutations that influence
who we are. For example, I am now sitting in front of my computer drinking a
chocolate milk - something I can only do as an adult because I have a mutated
version of the lactase gene that causes lactase to be expressed in adulthood
(lactase persistent syndrome). Until agriculture was invented this "syndrome"
had negative value since unless I am drinking milk it is a waste of resources
for my body to make an enzyme that won't be used.

As we learn more about each persons genome I hope we stop categorising people
into people with a "syndrome" and those without.

------
tcfunk
This is awesome, I have never seen Williams Syndrome mentioned in the news
before. My younger cousin has it, though, and it's interesting to hear some of
the common symptoms.

She's an amazing person, but absolutely a handful! More recently, things have
become awkward as she is coming of that age, and while interested in the
opposite sex doesn't quite grasp those social boundaries of what is and is not
acceptable.

Her personality, like the article mentions, is totally infectious. She loves
music and friends and parties, and wants everyone to just be happy!

Thanks for linking this!

------
skuunk1
It seems almost as if we are afforded a certain amount of "intelligence" and
it is split between "emotional" and "cognitive". Those who exhibit high
ability in one seem to suffer from not enough of the other.

~~~
contingencies
I really like these sorts of 'zoom out' comments, because they tend to show
the similarity between disparate systems and the cross-domain value inherant
in systems thinking. (Then again, HN is probably a bit of an echo-chamber for
this!)

------
danieltillett
This paper [0] is really interesting from the perspective of looking at
Williams syndrome as the opposite of autism. The authors found that an
individual with a duplication of the Williams syndrome deletion region that
was autistic. Basically they found that not enough of the genes in this region
(i.e deletion) then you end up with Williams syndrome, too much and you get
autism _.

_ Autism is genetically more complex than Williams syndrome as there are many
other genes that can cause autism.

[0][http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10803-011-1389-4](http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10803-011-1389-4)

------
danieltillett
It would be really interesting to see which genes in the section of chromosome
7 that is deleted in Williams syndrome have been under recent strong selection
in humans.

------
coldcode
We know so little of how the brain actually operates, it not surprising that
simple changes in brain anatomy or chemistry can produce enormous variations
in behavior. I wonder if we will ever be able to be able to correct or at
least change the brain without making things worse.

------
asaddhamani
Well, this sure is one neurological/chromosomal condition every hacker is
immune to.

------
Ponies12345
Link to reddit discussion:

[http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/22yed5/living_with_...](http://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/22yed5/living_with_williams_syndrome_the_opposite_of/)

------
tootie
Is this different from Histrionic Personality Disorder?

------
callesgg
Does not sound at all like the opposite of autism.

~~~
VMG
The title of the article is very annoying. "Pear: The opposite of apple"

------
danbmil99
Maybe there's a spectrum, and marketing/sales folks tend to be a bit towards
this pole?

------
Adam503
Hodor.

------
spiritplumber
Pinkie Pie disease?

~~~
Ponies12345
You're not the first to suspect that Maud and Pinkie Pie were intended to
represent Aspergers and Williams syndrome.

------
the_cat_kittles
I think there are traces of a connection between dogs and williams syndrome:
[http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/18/science/18dogs.html?pagewa...](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/18/science/18dogs.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0)

~~~
benrhughes
Interesting, again because of the parallels to autism. My son's therapist
recommended a book called All Cats Have Aspergers[0] as a way to help him
relate to how he sees the world.

[http://www.amazon.com/All-Cats-Have-Asperger-
Syndrome/dp/184...](http://www.amazon.com/All-Cats-Have-Asperger-
Syndrome/dp/1843104814)

------
kimonos
Hmmm, interesting.. Never heard of this before..

------
joyofdata
> People with WS are empathetic, social, friendly and endearing but they tend
> to have a low IQ, making tasks such as counting money difficult.

IQ is what a standardized IQ test measures. And there is no way such a person
can effectively attend a standard IQ test - which is why this statement is
pointless by definition.

And to connect this "low IQ" with having problems counting money is funny in
multiple ways! First of all - counting anything is not what I would consider
needing intelligence. Usually the opposite is correct - pertaining a boring
task as counting is usually impaired by high intelligence.

And second of all - isn't the feat of "counting money" the root of most of
mankind's biggest problems? Wouldn't it be more intelligent in fact trying to
foster some of the conditions coming with this "disorder"?

Like approaching people open and friendly disregarding their dull and
dismissive facial expressions and aura - tired from counting money very well
all day long?

~~~
V-2
> And second of all - isn't the feat of "counting money" the root of most of
> mankind's biggest problems?

This, and long-range planning. No mass-scale killings would've ever happened
if it wasn't for the human ability of long-range planning.

Out with the long-range planning!

