Asperger Symptoms and Cultural/ethnic Influence

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I recently did an assignment, as part of a study in communication, what involved examining the way I prefer to communicate (gestures, speech patterns, etc). Also, as a part of this study, I examined articles about communication, including perceived differences in traditional communication styles between eastern and western cultures.

In western culture, the traditional communication style usually emphasizes the non-verbal, meaning that gestures, posture, eye contact, etc are meant to be relied on more to convey the message, as opposed to spoken words. Eye contact is considered friendly and avoiding it is considered suspicious or shifty, and you can "gaze" for longer before appearing aggressive.

In eastern culture, the traditional style is somewhat reversed, meaning non-verbal signals are used less and spoken words are relied on more. Eye contact is more "sensitive", meaning is is more polite to look away while speaking / listening, and it takes less time during eye contact before you are interpreted as appearing aggressive.

I've been thinking about this, and I suspect that the majority of people with Asperger's Syndrome would fit into / feel more comfortable with, the eastern style more than the western style.

I also wonder: if twins with asperger's syndrome were separated at birth, one was given to a family with western communication style while the other grew up with eastern style, as adults would they both feel equally like "oddballs" or would the one that grew up with eastern communication styles feel less so, compared to the other? In other words, is part of what makes us feel or seem like "weirdos" more to do with western culture and communication style than is currently thought?

I am also curious about ethnicity and related genetic / communication style matters. That is, if a person of Asiatic ethnicity with asperger's syndrome grew up in western society, would he seem more "oddball" than someone with same ethnicity but whom is NT? if the reverse was done (Caucasian ethnicity, eastern society), would they seem less "oddball" than an equivalent NT? What are the rates of diagnosis in eastern societies compared to western societies? If Aspies can "fit in" more in eastern societies, would such individuals be more likely to go un-diagnosed if living in an eastern society?

I'm rather skeptical of that, since I never heard of autties in these cultures having an easier time of it (and some places/cultures can be a tad bit more conformist than others, especially in comparison to the US or UK-not that I wish to stereotype them, mind you). Plus I can imagine myself missing a nonverbal cues from Easterners very easily, and depending on the situations, perhaps even more so.

I also consider myself to be very culturally American, more specifically Northwestern. While I can often feel out of place there, I'm at least familiar with the general cultural rhythms of in and around where I grew up, and I never left the west coast, so I can imagine myself feeling even more out of place if and when I ever leave or even move out of this part of the continent, and even more especially , another country.

I've came to this conclusion-partly-after reading some travel writings, albeit mostly by Westerners. But I can imagine myself getting into similar confusing situations, perhaps even much worse than they have, due to a lot of lack of experience on my part, and I think I know enough now not to be too arrogant and confident when it comes to dealing with other cultures. I've also taken two Communication classes over a year ago as well, and like the rest of the western students I most certainly acted not too unlike the typical American/Westerner as the textbook author and the professor loved pointing out, and the Eastern students really agreed with these kinds of assessments. : )

It has always seemed to me that different cultures with their differing styles favor some personality types more than others. But I think the same diversity of personalities are distributed throughout the world. It is just that some cultures nurture particular personalities more than others, so that a majority of these people have a chance to thrive. A culture might cut you some slack on eye contact, but have an insistence on conformism. Perhaps a new business opportunity could be a matching service between a personality and the most fitting culture to live in!

I doubt it, and don't think it's that simple. There are different sets of body language required by each culture, but each culture does require body language, just for one.

That said, I had a case manager once who thought that my mostly quiet, unemotional-looking behavior was because I came from a Scandinavian-American family (his wife was from Norway and was similar in some ways), and I had to explain that actually it wasn't that at all.

An interesting topic. I have worked with Indian people (From India, not America) and they commented twice that I was "like an Indian woman." when I asked why they said "You look at the ground, you dont look at people's faces like most people here."

I didnt know about AS then though... it was years ago.

East Asian cultures may use fewer nonverbal cues than Western cultures, but they make up for it with much more elaborate rules of etiquette, social hierarchy, etc. Aspies are generally better with concrete rules, but proper application of such complex etiquette requires a nuanced understanding of the social context.