Love and Asperger's syndrome
"He's gentle, unworldly, highly attentive and charmingly old-fashioned. The catch? The very things that make Keith so attractive to Sarah are symptoms of Asperger's. Anna Moore meets the couples living with this surprisingly common condition".
3 comments:
Aren't people branded as AS just individuals who love their own company? I'm uneasy about how people are labelled these days.
Not everyone is into the stereotypical 2.4 kids & a cat lifestyle anyway. 300 years ago, family groupings were quite loose and extended and no one was under pressure to fit into roles predetermined by society.
No, people branded as AS (Asperger's Syndrome) are not individuals who love their own company exclusively. Many, in fact, do want to have friends and do fun things but don't really understand how to fit in. Unfortunately, because of the social awkwardness, Neurotypicals (NTs - those without Asperger's Syndrome or Non-Verbal Learning Disability) do become standoffish.
In the United Kingdom of Great Britain there are lots of resources for individuals with Asperger's Syndrome. Unfortunately, here in the Dominion of Canada, there's not much.
I completely agree with you, africanmum. I am extremely uneasy about how people are labeled these days, and the labels that they are given. Asperger Syndrome is a greatly overdiagnosed condition, and really unless someone has the pronounced cognitive characteristics of autism, they don't have AS. I don't think there should be a distinction between AS and high-functioning autism, and I think that if someone is diagnosed with AS and has pronounced characteristics of autism, they should be considered High-Functioning Autism. AS is really just a behavioral condition that can be overcome. And anyway, why must we have labels?? Has it ever occurred to the psychiatric industry that what might seem like a condition is in all actuality a behavioral quirk?? Yikes - I mean why use labels in any case?? They're completely impartial, and derogatory. Furthermore, the diagnostic practises that psychiatrists use are completely ambiguous and unempirical. They are simply trying to diagnose as many people as they can with conditions such as ADHD, OCD, and even high-functioning forms of autism, and since their methodologies are unempirical, we shouldn't trust them.
One of the biggest fallacies of the psychiatric industry is the faith that they have in their own institution and diagnostic practices. The psychiatric industry needs to concede that not every behavior can fit neatly into a diagnostic criterion. Really, the biggest thing that can account for behavior is NOT the diagnostic criteria befitting a mental disorder, but is simply an aspect of personality or just a force of habit. And the mind can control about 90% of behavior. Also, since AS is NOT a mental disorder, it CAN be helped. Mental diseases of the mind are biochemical glitches that lead to the a progressive, degenerative condition. THese conditions include bipolar (which I have been diagnosed with), schizophrenia, and things of that sort. In these conditions, behavior cannot be helped. ALthough with a extensive cognitive/behavioral training, even the most severe mental conditions can be cured. However, AS is strictly a behavioral condition that can be helped. The mind can change, thus behaviors can be modulated.
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