When I was an undergrad at Boston University, I took a course in the department of sociology in “medical administration.”  I was compelled to understand the social context of medical practice, for whatever reason.  I remember little of the course itself.  There was a very attractive older woman sitting next to me who amused herself by “adopting” me, which she thought gave her a right to criticize my then overweight figure and poor clothes.

I remember more about her than I do about the professor, a wacky guy the university had seen fit to import from New Zealand.  He had published a couple of relevant papers down there, but was still pretty new to the American health care system.  He told us that New Zealand had lots of sheep and was a big wool producer.  He talked about this great wool magnate who had this neat wool mill — a big one — and how it was he actually became quite wealthy. This was someone who knew about the tremendously loud machines that were used to process the wool.  The wool mill owner decided to hire only deaf people.  They asked for little; generally, they had problems finding jobs.  They were really happy and thankful to be able to work, so they worked hard.  They did not have any kind of a problem with the very loud machines.

That struck me so much then that I remember the story now, 50 years later.  Even then, I already felt that I would be in some kind of a management position as a physician and could do something that clever, becoming as rich and powerful as that New Zealand guy.  The professor had said something about Americans not thinking that way. The opportunity has not really presented itself.

Probably the closest I ever came was when I was running the day treatment center at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Oklahoma.  I had a lot of schizophrenic gentlemen who were not rich in social skills, but many of whom liked computers better than people.  Certainly, they related to computers better than they related to people.  I tried to get them computers, maybe even a little training. Read more on How to Employ an Individual with Asperger’s…