[ordu]

> What is up with questioning people's mental health just to explain bluntness and lack of social tact?

Maybe not "explain" but "describe"? Asperger leads not to just any bluntness, but to very specific, in specific situations.

I saw this reference to Asperger as one of key pieces of a puzzle. He was not just stupid person when he planned to overthrow committee. He was bright enough but not in his social decisions. Moreover the author poses a question "did I do the best when discouraged him". If person have troubles grasping the nuanced picture of a social interactions, then the best strategy for him to trust his advisor more than his own ideas.

If he was not Asperger (and he might be not, he was not diagnosed), then his advisor could left his to his own devices without experiencing a moral dilemma: student should be adult enough to think for himself in such situations, without his advisor making decision and then manipulating his advisee by giving him a biased sample of facts and thoughts.