Questions on Asperger’s Syndrome

[Daniel Tan]

Hi! I am a student whom is currently researching on Asperger’s Syndrome for my project! After much research, I incidentally came across this forum and would like to ask for your generous insight on some questions that I have.

1. What are the societal needs and inconveniences of a someone with Asperger’s?
2. Do you have any concerns about society’s treatment of Asperger’s Syndrome?
3. There has been campaigns specifically for Asperger’s overseas, such as international Asperger’s Day in Australia. Do you think that it is important for more countries to have one too?

Thank you so much and have a pleasant day ahead )

Yours Sincerely,
Daniel Tan

 

[Bolletje]

1. There isn’t one cookie-cutter answer to this question as we’re all different people and thus don’t have the same needs. In general I’d say people with Aspergers want to be a productive member of society, to be truly accepted and included, and to be loved. So yeah, basically what most every human being wants and needs.

2. I think Aspergers is used as a running gag in pop culture, and as such, people have a rather one-dimensional view of what Aspergers is. This isn’t necessarily problematic, but it is annoying. What I think is more worrisome is that when a violent crime is committed by someone on the spectrum, news sources are often a bit too quick to use that as an explanation for the crime.

3. I don’t like the concept of “X awareness days” in general, to me it feels like people pretend to care about something for one day because it’s trendy, then go back to not caring for the rest of the year. But who knows, it’s a rather foreign concept to me as my country doesn’t do awareness days at all. I think it’s important for a country to inform the public, but it’s better to do that with a well-constructed campaign than a day.