Profiles in Geekdom: Alex Plank of Wrong Planet

08.06.2012
For those with Autism Spectrum disorders, communication and social interaction can be difficult. Autism is a spectrum of disorders--that is, it affects individuals to varying degrees--but those affected by it typically have difficulty in social situations and in clearly verbalizing their thoughts, which can make face-to-face interaction challenging.

When he was nine years old, was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, a comparatively mild form of Autism characterized by difficulties in social communication, intense interests, and repetitive behavior. (Unlike classic autism, those with Asperger's syndrome don't experience delays in cognitive or language development.) When he was in high school, Alex started Wrong Planet, for those with the various forms of autism, as well as others touched by the disorder in some way.

We got the chance to speak with Alex about Wrong Planet, his life with Asperger's, and how the Internet and technology impact the lives of those on the autism spectrum.

GeekTech: What was your inspiration for WrongPlanet? What made you decide to set up the site?

Alex Plank: I was always different, and my parents always sort of knew that, but they didn't have the diagnosis, so what they did was try to find out what was going on with me. And at least initially, they thought I merely had ADHD or something similar. But when I was nine, I actually did get the diagnosis of Asperger's syndrome. And that was when I found out about autism.

When I was a teenager, I really wanted to find other people like me; I had a hard time finding friends in middle school, and [had] a lot of [Asperger's] traits. I was obsessive. I was a prolific contributor to Wikipedia; I edited more than 10,000 articles. I was also an official developer for the project. Needless to say, that isn't typical behavior for a teenager.