This is a groundbreaking piece by an extraordinary young man. Ian Kathan, who has Asperger’s syndrome, flies in the face of the conventional wisdom about his disability. In recent years high-functioning autism — Asperger’s — has been considered a “challenge” needing lots of help from parents, educators, and therapists. Rather than relying on the notion that he deserves special assistance and accommodation, Kathan is annoyed with this attitude of entitlement. He believes that people “on the spectrum” shouldn’t capitalize on their medical condition to make excuses for themselves and their failure. Instead, he believes people with Asperger’s should take advantage of their unique gifts. For Kathan Asperger’s is less a disability than an endowment, a sensibility that is profoundly different with distinct assets to manage.

My grandson David has Asperger’s. For most of his five years his mother — my older daughter — has devoted herself to finding help for him. Going to special doctors, enrolling David in special classes, feeding him fish oil, vitamins, and homeopathic medicines, she has imbibed Dr. Temple Grandin’s gospel that tireless vigilance and assistance are the hallmarks of cure for autism.

Considering this, it’s refreshing to hear Kathan think of Asperger’s as “the mind's tendency to . . . drop into a hyper-focused state. . . . While [Asperger’s is] a distraction, it can also be your drive.” Kathan speaks with his friend, the psychologist Pamela Christy, who agrees with him when he states, “If you give a person too much help, you give them extra exceptions to get by,” a sleazy modus vivendi.

Because of his refusal to make excuses for himself and say he has failed because of his disability, Kathan is able to savor his success: “Look at me. I’m on a radio station. Never in all my years have I ever thought that I’d ever be able to do something as big as this.”

Hats off to Kathan and Carmel High School in Indiana for producing a sound-rich, thought-worthy five-plus minutes!

One day I hope my grandson David will be able to join Kathan in saying, “It’s pretty cool to be me.”