Parenting someone with Asperger's....Can Asperger's traits be helpful?

There is good and bad in everything.  Having Asperger's traits can be helpful, as long as we are aware of the strengths, accept and manage the weaknesses.

People with Asperger's have a more "emotionally detached" approach to life.  They may have less empathy, or may have a lot of empathy but cannot not express it easily.  Although, this may not help them socially, it may sometimes help them to succeed in certain fields where being more emotionally detached is beneficial, like surgery, computers, pathology, law, arm forces to name a few.  Imagine if you are very empathetic and "feels" everyone's feelings, then how can you thrive in trauma surgery or in law, where you have to send a mother of five to jail.

One of the key approaches to managing Asperger's is Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).  Accept what you cannot change, and change what you can, and cultivate values driven actions.