Are there any black people with Asperger's syndrome?

Post Reply New Topic

What Does a Black Autistic Man Look Like?

N.I. Nicholson is a Black Autistic transgender writer, editor, and activist. As an editor with Barking Sycamores and the Coordinating Editor of Autonomous Press’ NeuroQueer Books, he focuses on bringing transformative works by neurodivergent, queer, and disabled writers into print or digital media. In July 2016, he graduated with an MFA in Creative Writing from Ashland University. His poetry and essays have appeared in GTK Creative Journal, Alphanumeric, Assaracus, and qarrtsiluni. He lives in Central Ohio with his life partner and Sycamores co-editor. His first full book of poems, Time Travel in a Closet, will be released in 2017 from NeuroQueer Books

Originally posted on ASAN website

It's like tea. It doesn't discriminate.

This is a highly loaded question with a difficult answer. Here's my experience on the subject.

I've known four black people with AS in my life. All of them were of Jamaican background, two being closely related, and two were of mixed race. This would suggest to me that autism is a "white" trait (many Jamaicans do have white ancestry down the line) which is recessive in people of predominantly black ancestry but still retaining some heredity.

Almost everyone else I've known on the spectrum was white with the exception of a mixed-race Iranian/English kid and a Punjabi Sikh. I live in an area which is 90% white but these people come from miles around so it's difficult to tell whether it's a reflection of the population at large.

I am half black, half German. I don't really have the appearance of a black man, but have the dick of one