The story of Qazi and Asperger Syndrome, His insights on life and feelings about Autism

I received an e-mail from a young man in Pakistan concerning my stories about the Viginia Tech tragedy. Qazi Fazli Azeem a 25 year old self described Asperger savant. He mentioned that he read similarities with himself and shooter Cho Seung-hui. The similarities that he felt with the inability to communicate with peers and how he too was treated in return a half a world away.

Being a savant has had some positive aspects for Qazi such as his super memory, hyperlexia (High speed reading). This has given him the ability to learn and understand at a phenomenal rate. He has been a graphic designer since age 11 and despite his young age is developing an enormous resume.

On the other hand there have been negatives including dyscalculia (inability to comprehend abstract maths), Myopia (severely near sighted), Atopic dermatitis (rashes and skin sensitivity that he believes have cleared up due to 1000 mg of vitamin C), Displexia (motor skill clumsiness that wouldn’t allow him to play sports or drive), Restless Leg Syndrome that make his legs to be in constant motion while sleeping, Tinnitus or what we know as high powered hearing and any noise awakens him at night.

Qazi remembers being very hyperactive as a child while consuming many refined sugars and sweets. He also noted that bread and milk seem to muddle his thoughts so these too are now avoided.

As some have described with Cho, Qazi also says that he avoids eye contact and will ignore others or what they are doing. He remembers being bullied throughout his school years. There were a couple of times that this caused him to go into a rage. However those close to him say that they never see him angry. And this has caused them to believe that one day he will just explode. Qazi blames part of this rage he has hidden due to a bi-polar manic depressive state not uncommon in Aspergers. Believing that the inability to communicate feelings with others. A lack of friends due to missing social cues and his obsession with subjects that most ignore has caused him to become isolated even further.

Qazi will tell you that he could care less about personal relationships as he says “I have none”. He only develops professional relationships and never goes beyond business terms. He won’t allow anyone to get too close. He fails to understand how to create or maintain friendships. In his past this has caused him to contemplate suicide as he felt so alone and not understood. In the past years he became aware that he was in fact not alone as there are others like him and he is looking forward to the day that he will meet other savants who he can relate to. This has changed his way of looking at the world and himself.

When I asked Qazi what he did for a living I was stunned. Remember he is only 25 years old. He has 14 years of hardcore industry experience as a graphic designer and lists companies such as. American Express, Travel Services Pakistan, Pakistan International Airlines, Movenpick of Switzerland a division of Nestle Switzerland in Pakistan. Nandos, visiting faculty member Department of Computer Science University of Karachi, Also teaches design and multimedia at Arena multimedia centre in Karachi. He also does freelance work making multimedia animations and marketing campaigns for multinational companies. Qazi is also a founding board member of Pakistanisraelpeace.org. This is a civilian group that wishes to normalize relations with Israel. Webmaster for the Moderates International group (www.moderates.com.pk) this group calls for moderation in the world and opposes extremism. And Qazi is now becoming an advocate for autism awareness in Pakistan.

When I came to the subject of neurotoxins through vaccines Qazi does feel that this has contributed to the rise in Autism. He tells of a cousin who regressed after a vaccine to the point that he lives in a home for the mentally impaired. He told me of his father’s family being in the printing business that includes ink that is known to have lead, cadmium, mercury and chromium as ingredients. His father’s family has many with Aspergers. I was also told of the pesticides that are used without any regulations and how the crops that are not consumed by people are fed to dairy cattle. In turn the milk produced is fed to the children.

I thought that maybe it was best to just have Qazi’s own words explain his feelings about Asperger Syndrome and Autism.

The word Asperger Syndrome and Autistic Savant are the things the media has picked up on, Aspergers are people who can communicate yet have social and behavioral problems, autistic savants are otherwise unable to communicate yet have an ability which makes people label them as "gifted" eg large memory, fast mathematical calculation ability, artistic abilities etc. An Asperger Savant is a combination of both of these. Almost superhuman levels of abilities, see my website www.fazliazeem.com, see the interview videos, and the things I have done, I am currently 25 years old. The things written on my website are not even 10% of what I can do or have done till now. It is ironic that the system I live in discourages me, eg I cannot do research on anything unless I am a PhD, I could not skip or take alternative subjects in my university degree program due to my dyscalculia, I was called strange due to my obsession in things like history and comparative religion, both of which are not socially discuss able topics. People get jealous of my abilities and try to discourage me, or they think I am showing off when I tell them what I do (after they ask me what I do).”

Autism is evolution. Not the low functioning kids who can’t talk, these are those who are reacting to neuro-toxins produced by their stomachs due to mercury and pesticide in foods. Look at any great historical figure, from the Prophets, the great mathematicians, artists, scientists, almost any historical figure who have something great to contribute to how we live in the world today, from Einstein to Bill Gates, study their lives and you will see behavior typical of Aspergers Syndrome. Aspergers Syndrome is not a new thing, great people from as far back as 4000 years ago had classical symptoms. It is purely genetic, passed on in families, and where there is AS there are cases of schizophrenia, depression/bi polar disorder, mental retardation, to me these are clear indications of a genetic mutation, and that’s what evolution is, genetic mutation to become better combatant in the "natural selection" process spoken about by Sir Charles Darwin. The low functioning and regressive people are the causalities of Autism, those people who cannot throw out or chelate the heavy toxin laced food in this corporate/capitalism driven world, where mass production and money mean more than safety. If such children also had access to a safe environment and toxin free food, they would also become people with Asperger Syndrome/ high functioning autism. The world must realize this before it is too late, the Autism society of America has said that 1 in 100 children have an Autistic Spectrum disorder in the US in 2006. Pay attention to what the Aspergers Syndrome individuals have to say about the Autism issue and you come closer to solving the puzzle of the evolution of the entire Human Race.”