Aspergers isn't a disorder.

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You know what? Damn society. I want to see which group survives better as ferals, some people who aren't associated with WP or any other autistic forum seem to think that only autistic people can survive as feral chidren.

I dunno, but I don't think either NT or autistic people would do well as feral children. Survive, maybe, but thrive--no. Humans are group animals and we're designed with the expectation that we'll interact with others during our childhoods. Even autistic children are like that. Autistic youngsters are bonded to their parents, and those parents know them better than anybody else. And on top of that, autistic people often have such specialized brains that they can't do many things for themselves that NTs can do for themselves--if we didn't live in a society where people care for each other, we couldn't survive. Interconnected society is the human being's home environment--even when the human in question is autistic. I'm pretty sure autism genes are around in the human gene pool because they are useful to humanity in general--the nerdy specialists invent things that benefit everyone, and in exchange, the whole society cares for the people who get a heavy dose of autism. It's a trade-off that seems to have been quite beneficial to our species.

Well even if society accepted me for how I am, I would still have difficulties related to AS....I would still have the slower processing speed, I would still have difficulties with social interaction ect. However in a more accepting positive society I might not have developed such severe depression and anxiety and would have instead been able to focus on interests and skills I had while developing a healthy mental state which would have probably made my life less difficult.

But as it stands now I don't even have that going for me, and it seems if you did not at least go into trying to survive with that going for you it will eat you alive or so it seems. So yes being in a negative environment arguably this society could certainly contribute to problems but I don't think if you remove the sick society the difficulties the AS actually causes would not just cease to exist.

Same with me.

This sounds like an interesting study. Do you have a reference or link to it available?

Same with anyone! Human society thrives on diversity. A society filled with people like me would just be a bunch of library rats off in their own little corners, unable to cooperate to get anything done. All those people who aren't like me are necessary for my efforts to have any meaning. We're meant to work together. It's a good thing society isn't made of entirely autistics, and just as good that it isn't all made of social-butterfly NTs. It takes all kinds of people to make a world, neh?

That's an important point. Adapting to deafness, blindness wheelchair use and any other physical disability is easy, intuitive and one-size-fits-all. The adaptions are also highly specific and can be implemented with clear and uniform directions. But after 3 years on WP I can't even figure out what a set of societal adaptions to autism would be. I know that people can type up wish lists and perhaps will in response to this post. But the accomodations people have wished for for in the past have either been vague (people should say what they mean) or not uniformly applicable (public lighting should never be bright). There doesn't seem to be an accomodation that can be implemented in a uniform and easily described way, like closed captioning or wheelchair ramps.

Nevertheless, I think the wish lists for accomodations are important because through that process the unfeasable things could be pared away and some actually implementable real-world accomodation requests could emerge. There are probably posters here who have already thought of things that could realistically be implemented. Unfortunately, many things that people may wish for as accomodations aren't feasable for the very reason you gave: "differences in cognitive processing require a far deeper understanding of the disability than is required for adapting for the physically disabled." Mere education is not going to cross that barrier because it's an experiential one.

Right, and right there in your first paragraph, you make an extremely important point. It's kind of "between the lines" as it were, in your second paragraph too.

That's the aspect of "one size fits all" accommodations. I don't see that as possible at all with Autism, because the spectrum is far to wide, and we as individuals are all so different with respect to our Autism.

If we were to start typing up "wish lists" the stuff that would be on them would differ so widely, and/or require so much in depth understanding of Autism, or require so much "experiential" knowledge, it would be utterly impossible to implement effectively.

I agree with you. Actually you expressed in other words what I was trying to express in another thread where people seemed to disagree unanimously with me, so I'm kinda happy you said it.

I've said something similar to this.

I do agree that in a world of Aspies, the difficulties that do dome with AS would be accepted (not surprisingly), but I still have to say that I don't think it'd run as smoothly as the NT world. It depends on what you consider efficient and important, but I enjoy many aspects of the world NTs have created.

Myself, I would be a high-functioning Aspie if I were on the spectrum, and my only real, non-NT related challenges are sensory issues, attention regulation/multi-tasking, and...honestly, I can't think of any others that aren't somehow related to the existence of the very NT-NT's.

My constant sense of depersonalization and being "alien" is mostly caused by NTs, my need to live in a bubble is most likely caused the NT world, as well as much of my anxiety(although some of this is due to being innately obsessive). Also my occasional miscommunication with people is usually with the sort of NTs who take everything personally and not with the mellower types.

So, for me this is true, mostly, but we have to remember that some Aspies have different challenges than others and it isn't all due to NT's.

In this sense, I do agree that it is a disorder because it's something that Aspies will struggle with, solely due to the fact that they are a minority.

So, NTs are better in some ways and worse in others IMO(yes, "better", I really do think some NTs are naturally skilled in ways that I'd really like to be, but it's obviously just my opinion) but since they've eclipsed autistics by FAR, Aspies are technically the disordered individuals regardless of the set of skills they possess.

But in this sense, homosexuality would also be a disorder, since the homosexual is in a minority group and isn't on the same playing field.

You can't say it's as easy for the homosexual to find a partner as the hetero. It doesn't matter how you view things subjectively and what things a gay person could do to make life easier, they still make up about about 10% of the population.

And yes, things are becoming easier for gay people, but this is 2012.

I would say that Aspies and homosexuals are still equally disadvantaged, as much I hate to play the victim card.

I don't think I'd be staying at home.....because some of my special interests like music involve things like going to concerts, trying new beers at breweries and stuff I kinda gotta get out of the house for. Not to mention sometimes being outside is just kinda nice.

^^ Homosexuality isn't a disorder, as it does not impede their day to day functioning nor make them unable to do certain things nor does it make those things more difficult for them to do. They are a minority, and society is the only thing that impedes them from doing whatever they wish in life.

Now for my tongue in cheek comment. As for a society of all aspies, I believe that there would be a sh*t ton of lawyers and civil suits over minor offenses would be the norm, to say nothing of what lawmakers would pass laws against.

Well there's a very general thing that 'society' could do for us: It's called "acceptance".

Accept that we're different. Accept that we really do have the best intentions, even though your brain is hardwired to misinterpret it as being "shifty" or "shy" or "rude" or "inappropriate" or whatever. Accept that your so-called "empathy" only extends to those that are very similar to you, and that you have to make actual effort to empathize with those who are not.

And once you can do that, perhaps you can make a start at treating us with emotional reciprocity.

I'm currently in grade 11, and there's only a select few who get grades as high as mine. Although I never understand what the teachers are saying in class, I always surprise them after teaching myself at home and getting A's in the tests.



But we can learn, there's a saying "giving someone something they could have earned is depriving them of the strength they could have gained."

Actually I made that up. But the point is that, if we could learn how to socialize as well as an NT, we would understand what we are doing in a better way than they do.



Imagine a salt to food ratio. Severe autism would be like a bowl full of salt with a small amount of food. The less severe autism becomes, reverse the ratio.

You will eventually end up with a bowl full of food with a tiny amount of salt. The salt has gone from something that would dry your throat out and make you thirsty and sick, to something that enhances your meal.

Maybe I don't even have autism, maybe the doctor misdiagnosed me when I really have Anti-social personality disorder or something like that...

The only sensory issue I have is light, shining a torch in my eyes is like a hard slap on the face, though that's probably due to a low amount of pigment on my retina. I don't have social skills and I dislike eye contact.

But other than that, according to what I've now heard about other people with Aspergers, I don't really think I fit it...

I would run far away from that society! I rather live in an NT dominated society then an aspie dominated society.

It would be like Orwell's "Animal Farm" where all aspies are equal but only some aspies are more equal.