Researchers from Cambridge University in England found that nearly three times as many children were diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder in a region of the Netherlands known as a center of high-tech industry than in two other regions with fewer high-tech jobs.I've worked around enough engineering types to have more than a fleeting suspicion that many of them (er, us) have personalities that, depending on your definitional rigor, could be called autistic. The observation that some people relate better to machines than to other people is quite accurate.
However, the study in question has serious methodological flaws.
Researchers acknowledged their study had limitations, including the possibility that parents in the high-tech region were more attuned to the signs of autism and that the kids were more likely to be diagnosed, and that they relied on numbers from the schools but were unable to examine the kids themselves.What this says to me is, the researchers worked off secondhand, anecdotal information. That should have invalidated this as serious academic research.
Nevertheless, if you work with seriously focused engineers and are frustrated by the experience, this article provides some interesting insights that might help you to find a modus vivendi.
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