Do you "have" Asperger's?
(if you don't know what "Asperger's" is, click
here)
(to read the story behind this site, click
here)
If they gathered us all in one place, all 20 million of us, our number would be similar to that of the entire population of Australia. We could have been a continent of our own!
Now suppose you then take 66 thousand people who do not "have" Asperger's and disperse them evenly among this theoretical continent, shake well, and observe: what would the symptomology be
for those 66 thousand "others"?
Their two main defining symptoms would be:
1. Lack of a strong focus or drive in their lives. Their interests tend to get dispersed, and are often counter-productive.
2. Desperate need for social coherence and grouping, and an inability to define themselves without this. Inability to spend time alone (The systems that our culture would have created would
cater for our social needs in a way that is balanced with our advancement, and caters to our individualistic needs, but these would be insufficient for these "special needs" people).
As a group, they would also be more prone to fight and start wars.
Wars rely on a certain social affinity that we do not have. We
would not feel the same sense of belonging, at least not in a
way that is beyond a theoretical concept.
The full list of symptoms would be much longer and a large number of those would relate to the difficulty of those "different individuals" in integrating into our social structures and our individual-based social environment.
Obviously this sounds strange, and you may even question the symptoms or the logic behind them, but this is precisely the point: it is impossible to asses how we would be like in an environment where 'the way we are' would be the norm, and it would be impossible to imagine how we
"Aspergians" (a term we use on this site) would be like if we did not grow in an environment where we are a minority surrounded by a foreign social context.
I think it is time we thanked the researchers, theoreticians and professionals who
helped identify the phenomena and make it public. The work of Dr Asperger and the follow up by the likes of Wing and Atwood has been pivotal in identifying that there is indeed a group of people who are born with a neurology which is inherently different to that of the general population. This group processes information differently, has a different set of social interactions and a wide variety of uncommon traits such as a high sensitivity to external stimuli.
We must be grateful to them for "classifying" us, but now that our existence is officially recognised by the majority, is it not time that we start classifying ourselves? Is it not time that we take responsibility for our own self determination, rather than letting others tell us who we are, what our behaviour should be like, and how we should be treated?
Asperger's isn't a disease or an illness. It is a unique set of traits, which is very likely to be the driver behind some of the greatest human achievements to date.
It is speculated that Einstein himself had Asperger's as did many
other prominent historical personalities. Asperger's is the single minded determination behind invention and innovation, and the ability to create something different to standard thinking. Human minds are locked within their barriers of social acceptability. Asperger's allows the expansion beyond this.
Note: you are born
with Asperger's, you do not acquire it like an illness. Put
plainly it is a genetic mutation - your genes jumped a little
and you got some extra traits, and, to keep the balance, had
to give up some others. You are only different because your
environment is not ready for you, but you are not a one off
fluke. Nature manufactures us repeatedly. perhaps there is an
evolutionary reason for this? Perhaps these extra traits have
a special role to play in the progression of humankind? Explore
this site further and you will understand more how much this
makes sense, and read our lead article about rebranding
Asperger's.
The words "symptoms", "condition", "difficulties" etc are one
element in a cycle that causes us to define our lives in other
people's conceptual terms. We need to break free from this.
We need to take ownership of our own future. We need to understand
that we are possibly one of the best things that happened to
human development.
Our focus and single mindedness, coupled with a range of special
skills allow us to excel in places where others never could.
There are of course social trade-offs, but as we grow more aware,
we can start looking after our community, creating solutions
for our needs in a way never thought of before: social meetings
with our own special structures, organisations with our focus
to drive them, and, of course, support to those young Aspergians.
children who need to learn that they are different only from
those around them. In the land of Aspergia they share the traits
and background of others.
So come with us on this journey to self determination: Aspergia
is born!
PS: feel free to
start signing your name with the Aspergian double thread
 it
is borrowed from cuneiform and represents the symbol "min" -
used in ancient days for the number two, and used by us to represent
the duality in our lives: AS and Human, and as a reference to the Aspergian
ethos.
© Edan and
Aspergia.com The content of this page is copyrighted and may not
be replicated in any form without prior written consent.
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