Patience and the spectrum

The TV series “Patience” on WPS, our state public tv service, is about a young woman who works in the Records department of the York, England Police.  It takes a while for her to show her talents, which lie in the areas of reasoning and searching enormous shelves of records.  She is “on the spectrum”, which is also communicated these days by stating she is an “atypical neurotype”.  

Such persons are often uncomfortable simply speaking and even more so, explaining or defending an idea against opposition and doubters.  I looked up the question of whether there are more individuals then there used to be and the answer was yes but it noted that more people are aware of the condition of ‘being on the spectrum’ then there used to be. Patience is played by the actress Ella Mavis Purvis, who is herself on the spectrum.  I have seen a man I love and admire, who displays spectrum characteristics stand beside a table at which several other people are seated without taking a chair or seeming to notice uncomfortable looks from those sitting.