Aspie in the UK -UK seems most "aware" among Engli

Post Reply New Topic

On youyoutube here and other sites I've noticed that quite a few Aspies, esp Aspie single females , are from the UK. More so than I would expected. I also see Aspie issues on the bbc more often than here in the States. It seems UK among the English speaking nations, is most "aware" of Asperger's. Perhaps b/c of Newton and Darwin?

Yeah the states are still pretty behind on issues relating to aspergers. You hardly ever see it on TV unless you're worried your child has it just from mercury poisoning...

I wasn't diagnosed until 3 years ago and it seems more well known in places such as england and other spots in europe.

Yeah North America is kinda late on commenting Asperger's, but i've read from wikipedia that european doctors also have difficulty making a proper diagnosis of Asperger's. Anyways....

My guess, without consulting any media studies, is that the fact Lorna Wing (the psychiatrist who popularized Asperger syndrome and founder of the UK's "National Autistic Society") is a large reason why it is so much more known in the UK. That and the fact that British media, in general, seems to be a lot better than what comes out of North America.

I find this post rather ironic considering that, even though the British Media may be better at reporting on Asperger's, they seem to be their toughest critic.

Ladyhawke speaks about Asperger's

To digress into media analysis for a bit, I think this demonstrates a positive quality of British media lacking in the United States: self-criticism. This may be too general a point to make on the basis of one article used as an anecdote for one issue, but it is still interesting to consider.

[quote="Master_Pedant"]My guess, without consulting any media studies, is that the fact Lorna Wing (the psychiatrist who popularized Asperger syndrome and founder of the UK's "National Autistic Society") is a large reason why it is so much more known in the UK. That and the fact that British media, in general, seems to be a lot better than what comes out of North America. [quote]

The Brits are way ahead as AS, though ironically they are not that great on psych. services in general. Had a realtive who practiced child therapy in rural England (Devon) and believes AS is way over-diagnosed in the UK; any kid who was bullied or uncommunicative was labeled as being autistic.

As for the media aspect, the concentration of media outlets in London makes for a much more competitive news market. In the US the media is highly dispersed geographically and concentrated in ownership, so there's very little real competition in newspapers and TV, especially since Murdoch decided to buy up the entire NYC media market, which used to be competitive. Magazines are an exception, but the readership base is much smaller.

AS definitely isn't over-diagnosed in the UK.. just a little less under-diagnosed than other places at best..