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By Sam McManis in the SF Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/05/03/CC179871.DTL
At the risk of adding to the Spider-Man hype ensnaring us
in a pop culture web in advance of today's movie release,
I must tell you about an extraordinary 10-year-old boy from
Concord and his fixation with said superhero.
He is Zoe Poston, and he is . . . Spider-Man.
No, really.
When Zoe was 5 and in kindergarten, he would wear his Spider-Man
costume under his clothes -- every day. And he would return
home wearing his distinctive red-and-blue tights -- every
day. He kept leaving his street clothes at school, in the
street, tossed in a trashcan. He would tell his mom, Alex,
that it couldn't be helped, that he had to handle a crisis.
"Zoe was not pretending to be Peter (Parker) and Spider-Man;
he was them," Alex Poston said. "His ability to
differentiate was not there. All my pleading for him to put
his clothes in his backpack was lost in a moment of heroism."
Eventually, Zoe outgrew the costume, but he has yet to shed
his obsession with Spider-Man. Such immersion in a particular
activity or character by a child is a classic manifestation
of a form of autism called Asperger's syndrome. The numbers
of diagnosed cases have increased 200 percent from 1987 to
1998, according to the state Department of Developmental Services.
Alex Poston wanted her son's story told, obsessions and
all, for several reasons. First, April was national autism
awareness month, and she thought Zoe's immersion in all things
Spider-Man would work as a tie-in to help people understand
the condition. And, she also wants all the people in grocery
stores who make rude comments to her about her "naughty
kid" to show a little compassion.
"And the character of choice fits him," Poston
said. "Spider-Man is forced into his role by forces outside
his control but finds a way to live a good life and help others
despite his differences from them. AS is a genetic condition
forced on Zoe, which he battles daily. Yet, he's determined
to live a good life and help others despite the fact he doesn't
understand them or connect with them as others do."
So, yeah, this kid is Spider-Man.
Article continues at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgibin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/05/03/CC179871.DTL
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