Sounds like orientalism to me to be honest, and I would be vary of pathologising someone who takes part in a political struggle even if you don't mean bad. Not Eastern European, but were MLK or Nelson Mandela autistic? To me they seem quite well-adjusted and "normal personalities", except for being against the injustices around them.
No, they were not pathologising it, just explaining (or wondering about) the motivations of some (not all) of them, the fact they were willing to suffer for truth, with no apparent personal gain. And I don't have a link.
