Does your spouse seem absent-minded, insensitive, distant, antisocial, and just plain awkward? Does he or she have trouble relating to people, tends to rub others the wrong way, can’t seem to hold  a decent conversation,  is a little too forthright with personal opinions, constantly gets lost, is awfully disorganised, clumsy, often late and makes a mess? You could be married to someone with an autistic spectrum disorder (though not everything above applies to everyone with ASD). This article (courtesy of Margery D. Rosen at lhj.com) gives useful first-hand accounts by both spouses (and their counselor) in a marriage with a husband who has Asperger’s Syndrome.

Neil seems to live in his own world. I take care of everything from finances to repairs since he can’t be trusted to do anything. He can’t even keep a job. He’s always butting heads with bosses and coworkers. No surprise, really: Neil has never been able to deal with people. If we go to dinner with friends he won’t even look at them. If anyone asks him a question, he starts on an endless rant. I’m working two jobs now but he seems totally unconcerned about how drained I am.