Is there an Aspie "culture"?

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I imagine that there is a sort of culture associated with Aspie-dom... there definitely seems to be realms in which Aspies excel. But it is probably more apt to look at individuals rather than try to look at people as a solidified group. Aspies are often quite solitary and don't do well in groups (as a generalization), which to me seems like the antithesis of what someone thinks of when they imagine a "culture". So maybe it's the way that you are approaching the topic that is problematic.

Well, that could be. I have read that the advent of the Internet has enabled people with ASD to communicate more, like on this forum. Is proximity needed for a community or culture? Or can the connections formed through forums, Facebook, etc. create community? I have read that the Internet is for people on the spectrum what American Sign Language is for the Deaf. That text-based communication removes the issues associated with face-to-face (FTF) communication to make communication easier.

Can online contact be equivalent to FTF?

Yes and no on the culture question. I have seen elements of culture here and other sites related to ASDs. However, one must consider that when there is a community of any type, online or IRL, there will be a culture that forms around it. So there may be culture on websites or in Support/Meetup groups, but outside of those parameters, there is probably no clearly defined culture related to ASDs.

Last edited by PM on 01 Jul 2011, 10:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Is there a common ground through which AS individuals develop a sense of identity?

Is this a collective identity or a set of individual understandings interpreted as such? Does it contain some elements of both?

Would it exist without the internet?

How much "culture" is reliant on the internet and more traditional media. Is it in any way tangible?

Does this apply to both AS and NT's equally?

Being on the spectrum is not a culture. Our autistic traits are not something we have learned and passed on to the next generation of autistic kids. These traits are things that we have been born with, not something we have inadvertently created over time which is what culture is. Culture differs all over the world. Autistic traits do not. You can argue that there is a sort of sub-culture emerging within regards to autism acceptance (akin to gay acceptance movements, etc), but autism itself is not a culture or a sub-culture. The autistic spectrum is heterogeneous. While some key traits are found in people with autism, the way these traits are manifested can differ. An autistic person in Korea is of the Korean culture. Autism may prevent this person from understanding some social communication, relationships, and behaviour, but the person is still of the Korean culture. That person may have traits similar to a Mexican individual with autism, but their cultures will be very different. One cannot refer to something wired into a person's brain a culture, IMO.

People with Aspergers are usually part of or attracted to geek culture like video games, anime, pen and paper roleplaying games, and other things geeks and nerds love.

Myself I love pen and paper roleplaying games, horror films, and different sci-fi tv shows everything I like screams geek. We do not produce anything except bad reactions from NTs, a sub culture needs to produce something other than disrespect from nonmembers to be considered a culture.

Last edited by Todesking on 02 Jul 2011, 12:19 am, edited 1 time in total.

There is not an "aspie" culture because culture is something which exists only in the presence of a social structure, and amongst those with AS there is no social structure between them.

You might notice that one of the only things people with AS have in common aside from meeting some official diagnostic criteria is that they have a tendency to initially think all others with AS are like them, and after many arguments amongst themselves over what people with AS are like, it is eventually proven that this assumption they had was false, whether they recognize it or not.

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Last edited by Todesking on 02 Jul 2011, 12:17 am, edited 1 time in total.

Yes, there absolutely is an autistic culture. The online autistic subculture is starting out very much like Deaf culture, actually. A common way of communication--on the Internet. A common way of seeing the world. Common experiences. It's an odd sort of culture; we usually think of cultures as being groups of people in the physical world, like gay people in San Francisco or Creole people in Louisiana. But I don't think a culture has to have a physical location, at least not in the modern age. The Internet is changing what culture is all about. People who live widely separated can meet online, and people who are isolated, as disabled people often are, can communicate. Don't believe me about internet subcultures? Think of 4chan. There's an Internet subculture. Or WoW. Or Second Life.

That's the phenomenon that autistics are latching onto to make their own culture online. We don't socialize well "in real life". We don't understand or use a lot of that nonverbal communication that leads people to refer to offline as "real life" and claim that it's more important than online. So it makes a lot of sense that we would use our strongest method of communication--text--to hook up in a world where our weaknesses in reading body language are pretty much irrelevant.

We're even starting to have our own lexicon of terms that most people wouldn't understand. NT. Neurodiverse. Aspie and autie. Stimming. Meltdown. Spectrum Cousin. Aspiedar. PECS. ABA. Restraint and seclusion. Shutdown. "Taking the cure." Sensory overload. Autistic burnout. You ask an NT to define those--he won't get it right, not unless he knows or works with autistics.

There are conventions where we meet in real life, like Autreat, and advocacy organizations headed by autistics, like ASAN... We don't always get along, and we don't always agree, but those things aren't necessary to have a culture. What's necessary is that there's a body of information that everybody refers to when they communicate, and we have that common body of information.

4chan is either a culture or it isn't. Seriously people, make up your mind. I hate conflicting data.

The wolrd of autism is anything but homogenous, there is not a single culture which all aspies are members of. However it is likely that clusters of aspies / autists do exist, within these clusters a culture which is different to that of "the NTs" may well exist.

I think that the internet and sites like the wrong planet are going to increase the likelyhood of an AS culture evolving, the thing about the wrongplanet is that it has allowed me to make contact with my own kind even while I live and work surrounded by a bunch of NTs. I will warn people that just becuase a person has AS does not mean I will like them, I can think of one person who I have known in real life who seems to fit the AS profile very well who was a total nightmare to have in the workplace (I did not like him one bit) but I find that on average I oftein get on better with other people who seem to fit the AS profile than I do with the average NT.

The real world is rather unfriendly to Asperger culture, in that our behaviours, creepy looks, stims, inappropriate conversations.... are not welcome by the predominant NT community/culture.

Not just unwelcome, but actively suppressed and marginalised.

Aka testing programs and aborting AS foetuses, India's untouchable class filled with AS genes....Chinas cultural revolution 80 million killed, many dissidents, intellectuals, autistics, artists. Nazi Germany prolly wasted a few ret*ds that were not inline with Arian expression.

Most very high functioning aspies normally emulate NT culture, rather than their shared AS expression. This would be like being a half caste, but only expressing in the more advantageous right way- I mean white way....

In time all this will come to pass. The suppression of the AS neurotype has had its day. In the future the technological age will desire our skills, and NT behaviours will become less desirable in the marketplace. AS nerds will be earning top dollar and then breeding, attracting AS females with good jobs, and all with a greater self confidence and a marked increase in the degree of self actualisation. No longer n****rs looking down at the ground as wh***y passes

At the moment we are still n****rs at a clan rally....

But, just as womens rights, gay rights and black rights have won their freedoms, our day in court is yet to come, but come it will.

Currently its a bit like the cannabis culture movement. Rather ineffective at times, too stoned to get their s**t together. But, only a matter of time as the masses have possibly a majority mandate regarding cannabis rights, and put pressure on governments to amend laws.

Media is also responsible for culture, like the tail wagging the dog.

Media says we are a disorder, we need to be medicated and need a diagnosis $$$$$. TV shows like beauty and the geek put us in a negative light, revenge of the nerds....skinny weaklings on the beach looking enept next to Johnny football hero...

We have token starring roles like 'Bones' but even then she is shown as odd, weird and freakish. Spock was shown as cute!

NT top brass reckon our genes are not valued...... so actively bully Aspergers genes into the corner and throw in a ret*d joke or two, and most women respond in herd like agreement to the directives of the mob leaders, and refuse to breed with AS men. Just like white women were frowned upon to associate with black men....

NT genes currently appear to be more attractive.

Beauty counts for a lot in our current culture. This may/could change..... The glasses wearing nerdy look was really dominant at a recent Paris fashion show, and male models are starting to have some AS features. In ten years time maybe more starring roles will have AS characters at the fore, and possibly shown in a good light, rather than a strange looking oddity struggling to find itself and keep its head high while having to duck all the clashing interactions with the majority NT culture.

We are here to change the world through science, invent machines, and peacefully go about our day.... instead of being a repressed source of cheap labour..... for the current bully worshipping culture.

I also believe that as we move further away from a feudalistic warlord phase of world history, and toward a one world culture, a one world government, the human response of **DEFENDING** will lose evolutionary value, as 'the enemy' archetype diminishes, and cooperation between people will become more commonplace.



Can I get a credit if you use some of my words? I spent over an hour thinking and writing this piece:P

I would love to read your final copy regarding AS culture!

You all have given me some interesting thoughts to ponder. Perhaps subculture is a better term. There is a hierarchy of cultures in our world... After all, we are all Earthlings, then members of some country, race, religion, ... there are many identities that people take on that defines the parameters of acceptable behavior in the circles in which they live.

So, very high functioning Aspies just know how to "play the game" when they are surrounded by NTs? I have read some of Temple Grandin's articles, she makes it sound like it takes medication to get her to be able to "fit in" in NT-land.

What differentiates "nerd" or "geek" subculture from Aspie subculture?

Littlelily613 - But are the coping mechanism that people on the spectrum use to deal with unpleasant stimuli learned or inborn?



Callista - Thanks. You have expressed that quite nicely.





Surfman - You have some other views that seem a bit extreme (about AS appearance?), I wonder how many other AS people out there share his point of view. I don't think I could identify a person on the spectrum by their appearance.

Anyway, I appreciate your willingness to share.

But, subculture seems to always have negative aspects associated with it.

Wikipedia entry subculture

Does a subculture always have a subversive element? I would not think that of an AS subculture as subversive. I think of it as having its own "norms" that are different from the norms of the majority (NT).

Is online culture a subculture because it rejects the communication norms of the majority? What about Deaf culture with its use of ASL? Haven't they rejected the communication norms of the majority? Is it different because the rejection is due to necessity (hearing impairment)? Do people on the spectrum have a non-verbal communication impairment that necessitates rejection of the communication norms of the majority?

What's wrong with 4chan?

I don't think there's such a thing as an Aspie culture. The only common denominator that I have with the Aspies I know is that I'm on the spectrum. They're meek, submissive, and don't like physical exercise. I am the complete opposite.

It's like a group of people who all have the same rare allergy or something. They share that one thing, but they may have nothing else in common with one another, nothing that binds them.