No, because if they don’t want to be, no one will force them. But if their lack of understanding or ability to control their condition is distressing, then yes, the scientific community has an obligation to offer explanations and solutions. I’ve always heard it said that when diagnosing a mental disorder of any kind, a key criterion is whether the person perceives their condition as a problem, that is, whether it’s a barrier to functioning the way they would like to. Not the way other people want them to, necessarily, but it’s very important that if people with conditions like this are in pain because of them, that science try to help them. Just knowing there’s a name for your experience can be a huge relief for those experiencing it and their loved ones.

a lot of Aspies who find out about it later in life wish they’d been diagnosed earlier, because it would’ve helped them understand themselves and their relationships to the people around them. there are a lot of people, myself included, who do not view it as a “disorder” but rather as a developmental difference. i am short, my fiance is tall. i am NT, he is Aspie. if you fight off the categorization of different mental styles, ultimately what you’re saying is that we all have to be the same… and the ones who are “a little unusual”, instead of having a sense of community, belonging, and relating, are stuck alone again.

Not, in the end, that I think it matters. My son is oblivious to physical pleasure and my daughter is an utter sensationalist hedonist; I think in the end, I can only support and let them find their own path, though armed with more knowledge than, perhaps, the mainstream world would endorse.