Student loans discharged because debtor has Asperger's

About $340,000 of debt were wiped away by Maryland judge

A Baltimore County woman had about $340,000 in student loan debt discharged by a federal bankruptcy judge this month because Asperger's syndrome prevents her from holding a job.

Carol Todd of Nottingham pursued college degrees "as a stepping stone toward a measure of liberation … and perhaps to help her achieve something closer to a normal life," according to the May 17 opinion of Judge Robert A. Gordon, a bankruptcy judge for the District of Maryland. Asperger's is an autism-spectrum disorder that is typified by problems with social interaction.

But the debt Todd racked up ended up complicating her life, Gordon said. He took a rare judicial step by deciding that the loans Todd took on were an "undue hardship."

Todd, who was 63 at the time of her student loan discharge trial in Nov. 2010, received a GED at 39 and began pursuing higher education.

She received an associate degree at Villa Julie College, now Stevenson University, and a bachelor's degree at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, now Notre Dame of Maryland University. At Towson University, she obtained two master's degrees.

She also enrolled at the University of Baltimore School of Law and Regent University, and took classes online at an unaccredited school. But after all that education, Todd was never able to keep a steady job.

"The thing to understand about Asperger's is that it can impact people so differently," said Barbara A. Bissonnette, a Massachusetts-based workplace coach for people with Asperger's syndrome.

Some people with the syndrome can make six-figure salaries, she said, but many more have difficulty being successful in even entry-level positions.

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By Steve Kilar, The Baltimore Sun

7:53 p.m. EDT, May 28, 2012