Tim Page, on Experiencing Asperger Paul Steinberg ("Asperger's History of Over-Diagnosis," The New York Times on the Web, Feb. 1) simplifies my own experience with the condition, as described in my memoir, "Parallel Play." "Social disability" does not begin to sum up my lifelong history of insomnia, anxiety, depression, cluelessness and isolation, little of which was assuaged by Emily Post. Nor, in all modesty, does it address the singleminded, fiercely exclusive energy I can bring to a project that has captured my attention, the immersion in an otherworldly ecstasy that music, writing and film provide, and the very occasional but no less profound joy in my own strangeness. I do not allow my diagnosis to control my life, and yes, I know that I am "high functioning" and not necessarily typical. Still, I have no doubt that Asperger syndrome explains a great deal about my triumphs, as well as my tragedies. TIM PAGE Los Angeles, Feb. 1, 2012 The writer is a professor of journalism and music at the University of Southern California.