TO CHAT to Torley Wong is to whirl from one delightfully unrelated topic to the next. Within a few minutes we are discussing the video of him dancing on YouTube, what it is like to be bullied, and his recent joy at finding a clock in precisely the same colours as a watermelon, his favourite fruit.
We are not chatting face-to-face, instead we are typing messages to each other inside the virtual world Second Life. As we type, our animated representatives, or avatars, nod their heads at each other on the screen.
Some might consider this an awkward way to get to know someone, as typing is so much slower than speech and lacks the nuances that can be conveyed via facial expressions and voice. But these qualities are exactly what make avatar-to-avatar chat Wong's favourite way of communicating.
Wong has Asperger's syndrome, a form of "high-functioning" autism that causes ...
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