During an interview at NBC's "Nightly News" last November 6, 2014, Seinfield believed that he has Autism and belongs to the spectrum. However, a few weeks after his controversial claim, he retracts his statement and says he does not have autism.
The 60-year old comedian told Access Hollywood in an interview that he based his self-diagnosis on what he was feeling. He reiterated, "I just was watching this play about it and thought, 'Why am I related to it on some level?' That is all I was saying." Yet, during the November 6 interview, he said that he had trouble understanding what others are telling him. He then explained that context that it's a common problem among comedians. "All the comedians that we've had on Comedians in Cars, usually at some point in the show...I ask them, 'Do you have trouble talking to just regular people?' And they always say yes."
Immediately after the controversial interview, he instantly became viral and was dubbed as the personality with autism just like others who have a distinct medical condition. For example, Michael J. Fox is the one with Parkinson's disease and Stephen Hawking is the one who is paralyzed.
Critics of Seinfield's self-diagnosis of having autism and how he dealt with it as something of no importance voiced their concern on how he has hurt people who have the condition and more, on the part of parents and relatives of those with it. They scrutinized the way he made fun out of the condition and even if he has the condition or not, he should have dealt with it in the most sensitive manner.
According to the National Institute on Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the hallmark of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is impaired social interaction. In the United States, one out of 68 children is suffering from autism and occurs more in boys than in girls. Aside from impaired social interaction, they have trouble communicating with others and have behavioral problems.
