This is a question that I have asked myself many times, because all too often it seems to me, that Asperger’s Syndrome is not, in and of itself a disability.
Especially not under the terms currently being used to define what a disability actually is.
To me Asperger’s Syndrome is more about experiencing a different way of seeing, understanding and being in the world, than it is about being unable to be in the world.
Here’s why I think this……
According to the World Health Organisation, a disability is…
“Any restriction or lack (resulting from any impairment) of ability to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being”
Does having Asperger’s Syndrome prevent you from being able to act within a range that is considered normal for a human being?
What is considered normal?
Do you have to be constantly chatty, friendly, up-beat or one of the gang in order to be considered normal?
Or can you be shy, quiet and reclusive, yet competent and competitive and still be considered to be normal?
My experience would say yes.
Besides, if anything having Asperger’s heightens ones awareness of how to perform certain activities, it just does so in a different way.
So maybe it’s just the definition of disability in use then that’s the problem?
Here’s another definition of what a disability is.
“A disability is a condition or function judged to be significantly impaired relative to the usual standard of an individual or group. The term is used to refer to individual functioning, including physical impairment, sensory impairment, cognitive impairment, intellectual impairment mental illness, and various types of chronic disease.”
Citation: Disabled World News – Definition of disability including types of disabilities and the social model of disabilities: http://www.disabled-world.com/disability/types/#ixzz2H0bfh73s
So does having Asperger’s mean that you are “significantly impaired relative to the usual standard of an individual or group”?
Well, once again, I would say no.
Having Asperger’s may mean that you are “different” when compared to the relative or usual standard of a group, but it does not necessarily mean that you are “significantly impaired”.
Nor does it mean that you are unable “to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being.”
So what’s considered normal anyway?
If you can go to your job and do that job well but have trouble conversing with your work mates, are you disabled or just different?
If you can get married, raise a family, but not be particularly social, are you different or disabled?
Are we becoming guilty of using out dated concepts in order to try and clarify ‘being different’ as a ‘disability’?
And if we are guilty of this, then how will replacing the concept of Asperger’s Syndrome by engulfing it within the wider framework of low functioning and high functioning Autism help us to gain a clearer understanding of Asperger’s as being differently abled and not disabled?
What do you think?
Related articles
- I’m a proud Aspie, but I accept the term ‘Asperger’s syndrome’ has had its day | Joshua Muggleton (guardian.co.uk)
- No More “Asperger’s Syndrome” (science.slashdot.org)
- What is Asperger syndrome? (foodconsumer.org)
- It’s official: ‘Asperger’s syndrome’ is no longer a thing (io9.com)
Have you noticed different is always “wrong”? Our language and the ways we think about groups encourage this. But it begs the question: what makes one way of thinking and experiencing the universe better or worse than another? Yes, I understand that something that is too far removed from average can create difficulties in certain tasks. But why does it (at least seem) to always have to be a value judgment?
I have no objection to the words used; I have an objection to the underlying attitude – the judgment and evaluation that make one person good and another defective.
OK – you happened to mention a pet peeve of mine. But to anyone who feels that how they are (NOT specific things they might do) is a priori wrong: don’t you believe it.
Great thoughts 2Kilroy. I agree with your perspective completely and yes I have noticed how ‘difference’ in any way is somehow automatically translated into ‘wrong’. Viva Le Difference I say. And you are right no-one should ever be made to feel as they, themselves are born as wrong beings (as in a priori wrong).
Here’s a recent article l discovered :- http://j.mp/Xt1Rej
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