Asperger's - Sensory Impairment - Yes or No???

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Hi,

I'm wondering if someone can help me out here, I'm just filling in a form for volunteering for a charity, at the bottom of the form there is one of those "Equal opportunities forms". One of the questions on the form is

Do you consider yourself disabled? which I've answered Yes 'cos I've got Asperger's and ADHD and the next question is
Do you have sensory impairment?

This question I don't know how to answer because is Asperger's a sensory impairment? I've read on the internet it's an overload of the senses, and I am extremely sensitive to certain things like touch and some loud noises (but strangely enough not some loud noises - I can put up with working at a rock concert bar, but can't stand fire alarms or that cricket device that shops use to annoy people)

I also have an impairment with my balance (is that a sense?) in the fact that due to Dyspraxia can just about ride a bike (finally got the hang of it when I was about 24!), and have to drive automatic vehicle 'cos can't get the hand-eye co-ordination together to drive manual.

So is Asperger's a sensory impairment or not - I'm half and half because isn't an impairment mean that your senses are underloaded not overloaded or is it both ways?

I presume as typical with Asperger's I'm going over the top on this and taking it way to literally maybe or am I?

I'd say you have one based on the little information you provided.
There are some theories that say that autism is solely sensory-based (overwhelmed senses lead to social withdrawal), which can make sense, but I don't think it's looking at the broader picture.

But as far as the term "sensory impairment" goes... I'm just curious: could they be referring to blindness or deafness? I see that you live in the UK, so perhaps they might use that term to refer to blindness/deafness (we don't where I live.)

They could be referring to blindness/deafness as the charity is Sense, the national deaf blind charity, I hate it when they put really confusing questions on forms like this. I might just put a full answer to the question and let them decide yes/no.

I'm pretty certain they are referring to sight or hearing loss. I worked for social services and dealt with recording data on disabilities. For us, sensory impairment only meant deafness/ partial hearing loss/ blindness/ partial sight.

with an impairement they indeed mean a reduction in effectiveness as opposed to others, most of the autistic sensory effects are the other way around.
however, if you are severely bothered by, for example, fluorecent light, to the point of an overload; then put this down there, as it is a 'sensory-induced impairment'

I might recommend putting down something like:

'Asperger's Syndrome, bothered by some loud noises'

Autism is by its very nature a sensory impairment. If too much sensory information coming it at once is overwhelming to you and can cause temporary shutdowns, then you're being impaired by it. If loud noises raise your stress level to the point that you become distracted and/or disoriented, you're being impaired by it. If rapid or multi-layered conversation becomes difficult for you to follow and you miss relevant information as a result, you're being impaired by it.

On the other hand, if by 'sensory impairment' they mean "are you blind or deaf?" then that's a different situation. Perhaps you should ask, or write a note in the margins explaining what your sensory impairment is.

I caught part of an episode of 'Everybody Hates Chris' last night, in which he was running for class president. A question was asked about what would be done to help the school's disabled students. The stock answer: "ramps." Well, there you go - ALL disabled people are in wheelchairs. Who knew? This is the kind of idiocy you can expect to be confronted with forever. People don't know, don't care and can't be bothered to remember anything unless you can distill it into a five word (or less) catchphrase.

Thanks everyone for the replies, I deleted the Yes/No answer in the form (it was a word document) and replaced it with a paragraph about not knowing whether it should be yes or no, and sent it in, it was the last question on the form I had to fill in.