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What Genevieve Edmonds says about Asperger's could be said about *any* disability: "Despite having [insert any disability here], many adults have great potential and capability. They are often of normal or above average intelligence, but need the right support to be accepted for who they are and allowed to integrate . . . " It is discouraging that rather than embracing the term 'disability' (despite its negative connotations), there are subgroups of disabled community who reject it altogether, claiming that they aren't *really* disabled, just misunderstood, etc. The bottom line when it comes to disabilities is this: On the whole, our society it is impatient and intolerant of differences. People with disabilities require more patience and support and are "different" than what society considers "normal". Thus we have a conflict. We (the global "we") *should* be examining and correcting society's impatience and intolerance, rather than getting bogged down in semantics because of the connotations of certain words in our collective vocabulary.

Um... how is this different? A person who uses a wheelchair is also "often of normal or above average intelligence"; a person with Down syndrome may "need the right support to be accepted for who they are and allowed to integrate"; and both may "see the world very differently to the average person....different priorities or different sensory experiences which can be exciting, but also exhausting, isolating, and confusing." If those characteristics rule a person out of the category of "person with a disability," who's left?

of course AS is a disability! My brother has AS and I assure you he is indeed disabled by it if you use the social model of disability. I am physically impaired by the drug Thalidomide however I am above average intelligence - does that my my impairment go away? of course it doesn't! My brother is indeed gifted in some things but he is still disabled by a society that does not and I would even suggest refuses to acknowledge his limitations.

The Aspie debate, I am a recently dianosed aspie and the people i live with don't really understand this silent world i am in, some try to help me and i just want to find others that do understand like fellow aspies

Hmmm. I personally don't find comments like this very helpful. Although people on the autistic spectrum often have skills which are overlooked, this is true of all disabled people. Also, the definition of disability here seems to be structured around the idea of functional loss rather than discrimination and other social barriers.

I suffer from Aspergers and all too often I find that if you put it on application forms that employers don't want to know. It could be that Aspergers is packaged with autism and the association with autism is the extreme of mental retardation. Maybe if it was disassociated from Autism people might think differently about the condition.

I am guess what you would call an aspie, but a boarder line one. My parents thought it best for me not to know til it slipped in a fight between me and my mother. I feel that we all have diffferences and trying t label them doesn't help much. I feel the grouping with autism has hurt people more then help it. I feel labels in general like disability do more harm then good. If we just accepted everyone as unique people we'd be alot better off.

The semantics surrounding labels and definitions is rather unhelpful to lots of different categories of individual, as is the notion that there are just two models - the medical (functional) and the social model. The range of potential 'models' is probably limitless. On the semantic side, a 'disability' can only be used in a functional context. The World Health Organisation has (1981)defined it as such, and the term for the social disadvantage the disability causes was defined as a 'handicap'. But fashions change very quickly and in 2005 itmight be difficult to use it.

If we don't fit into a pigeon hole people label us as weird, I know lots of people with aspergers and it makes a refreshing change to not have to do the idle chit chat to maintain the converstation, aspergers people just talk about whats relevant and I have found that most of the time they are very honest which is also a refreshing change. I also have gone from being an active person to being one who has to use a wheelchair because of MS, it is awful when one goes out and is ignored by the public, assuming that if your legs don't work you haven't got a brain, my eyes have been opened since I have had to use a wheelchair of the prejudice and lack of access around us. And I am so pleased that the sculpture has been put in London of the pregnant lady who had the son Parys, (I can't remember her name) but well done for opening peoples eyes.

Can this term "disabled" be abolished? It is a foul misnomer. I have little time for it. I have an alternative, but it is perhaps harsh.

No, the same cannot merely be said "about any disability"
The fact is, people with AS are labelled as thinking `wrong` and impaired in this or that. it is NO COINICDENCE that a high rate of genuis, invention and creative personas have aspergers. it is not inspite of, it is because of. Thus, Newtoms mathamatics, einsteins theory of relativity, mozarts music and many more besides are rightfully the heratiage of the autistic populus.
The fact that asperger`s needs to be recognised as a producer of great things is important. being in a wheelchair will not make you predisposed to acheiving mastery in a subject, nor will being deaf or disabled in any other way, but Aspergers, in some people, enhances this.
so no, the same cannot be said for any other disability.

I have AS and I class myself as normal. It is not a disablity it is a gift. The public cant tell that you have AS unless they get to know you otherwise to them your just another person in society. We are just more intelegent than others and have trouble geting along with the non-AS people

I would encourage both Asperger's persons and "professionals"/teachers/parents/other interested persons to look into the the literature of Gifted Persons. One place to do that is at www.sengifted.org

I'm not sure how to word this, but, it seems to me that there is some kind of odd blending/mixing-up/overlapping of "problems" in very sensitive, creative, imaginative persons who aren't, for whatever reason, "social". And, I'm not sure it is we who are labeled with Asperger's who have the problem as much as it is the schools and society who don't know what to do with us.

I'm not sure that I am "suffering" from something as much as I am experiencing the resulting confusion and depression from an overwhelming majority of persons who are oriented towards merely blabbing at each other, and what I call "appearances only", rather than having any substance in their conversations, interactions, and lives. (I'm sorry, if I say it another way, it will sound even worse.)

I also think it has some weird thing to do with people perceiving that they may be burdened with having to "help" us way into our adulthood. Well, please tell me when it became "abnormal" to be kind and supportive of others?! Good grief....I try to be kind and supportive just because that's what a Human Being does, or, at least I thought so.

I've written one essay, and I plan to write at least one more about the difference between what is "abnormal" and what I've BEEN TOLD is "abnormal". (I recently found an article online by Simon Baron-Cohen, "Is Asperger s syndrome/High-Functioning Autism necessarily a disability?" that says it better than I can.)

One thing he says is that if society were to change its focus, Asperger's might not be considered a "disability".

One brief example that I hope to write further about in my blog: Visual Art. A person HAS to spend time alone to develop art. Except if you are sold on the idea that to be socially minded, all artists have to work on a project together, or, at least work in the same room/space together. WHEN did an idea like that become "normal" for artists? Yes, I know that there used to be huge studios in the Renaissance, but, there has always been a tradition of working alone, too. Working out technique and the inner struggle of art alone--when did this become "abnormal"?

Same way with writers.....are we abnormal because we spend so much time alone writing? and reading? (most writers also spend time reading)

Sigh......sorry....probably wrote too much.

I am an Aspie and I also have a congential bone deformity. Im my opinion there are fundamental differences between my two conditions, the second of which I would describe as an impairment, the first I certainly would not.

It is my opinion that Aspergers in and of itself is not an impairment. It does not cause me pain and if I am in a room alone my Aspergers is not an issue. There is however a big difference between impairment and disability. Society disables people through its rigid categorisations and expectations and through its rejection of anything perceived as 'different'. Comparison may be made with the social construction of women prior to the rise of feminist theory, when it was accepted 'fact' that women were not physiologically capable of learning and processing information in the same way as men - hence exclusion from university and the witholding of the franchise prior to 1919.

Why should I be labelled as 'disabled' with all the negative connotations and barriers attached to the term by society simply because I do not see things in the same way or share the same interests as neurotypical people? Why can I not simply be proud to be who I am? It's majoritarianism taken to the extreme.

I would like to ask the people within this discussion, how they were diagnosed with AS. As l am sure my brother has the condition. And this condition has alienated him from perusing ?normal? activities. He has dropped out of college several times and never had a job, and become extremely depressed. Although he says ?there is nothing wrong and doesn?t want to discuss it.? I feel he has so much to give, and with the right support and advice, it would bring back some meaning into his life. Although myself and my mother would like to bring about this change, and have tried to get him to go the doctor with bribes and threats. It has become obvious we are not the right people to do this. But he doesn?t have anyone else. As l am sure apart of AS, he doesn?t have any friends. Would anyone have any suggestions?

I have Aspergers Syndrome and I am totally bewildered by the comments made above by other AS suffers.

AS cannot be categorised or defined by one simple and most certainly not by explaining your life story or writing a book.

AS effects people in many different ways. I know I have it but I do not know if what I suffer from is regarded as severe or normal. I also do not care.

I know that I see the world differently and that people treat me differently when they hear I have AS. For 35 years I did not know I had this, just I always felt out of place and was considered a loner.

Is it a gift, is it a disability? Who cares, it's not going to make any difference to me how its categorised because it will not change a single thing.

I personally wish the Ö÷²¥´óÐã would stop trying to write articles on something they understand little about. I even more wish that they would stop writing small paragraphs from people suffering with AS and regarding it as the "facts"

AS is a syndrome that has a vast array of different associated possibilities. The only way I can describe it in a way that can easily be understood is like this

"50 people lose one part of their body, but the part they lose is different in each case and no one is told what part". Do you categorise all those people under one heading? Are they all suffering the same? Of course not, each case is very different and therefore books or explanations do little to assist.

Thank you

I have this condition and may not suffer as much as others have, but also might suffer worse than some of those who have commented above.

When I read stories about persons with Asperger's being taken advantage of, or ridiculed, or beaten, etc., I must disagree with those who wish to embrace the condition as a gift, and say that this is definitely a mental inability. After all, wouldn't it be nice to be able to Read that those who are "manipulating" us appear to be emanating questionable social signals? I wonder if those infatuated with the condition even have an inkling of a notion that they might be happier to be in receipt of two to threefold more information when interacting with someone else.

Though I have been gifted with the understanding of many things electronic, I have severe problems trusting, finding, making, and keeping long term quality friends.

Additionally I have received the gift of an autoimmune problem which research tells me "may" be associated with ASD. It would be great Not to have the accompanying chronic rhinitis and digestive problems.

Genevieve was a remarckable young women . Sadly she died during the weekend 9/10 Feb. 2008. I was privaledged to have know Genevieve and she is graetly missed by all who knew her.
She never asked for a label just understanding and to understand o a strange messed up world that doesn't tolerate difference. WE ARE ALL PEOPLE, regardless of labels we are given.

i apologize in advance for the wording i am about to use, any other will loose my point.

Aspergers is different to anything else you might class as a disability for one good reason. The general public does not enable us, we enable them. if you take the aspergers diagnostic criteria and go through a list of the worlds great minds; philosophers, artist, engineers, scientists you will find a large number fit. now if only a fraction of these had/have aspergers that is still and amazing contribution to humanity.

"It Seems That For Success In Science and Art, a Dash Of Autism is Necessary! -Hans Asperger

Now I'm not saying there isn't difficulty, but it seems to me society is being ungrateful.

I think it can be seen as a gift and really it should be. I haven't been diagnosed yet but I'm so sure I've got it that a diagnosis will really serve other people more than it will myself... anyway, the reason it should be seen as a gift is that it makes you very acutely sensitive to things that other people can't see/feel. Too much emphasis is put on the social or emotional blindness that Aspergers causes, and not enough on the intuitive, extraordinary and apparently inexplicable perceptions that Aspergers people can have. It's a fascinating and rewarding 'disability' to have - except that I don't consider it a disability myself - and I firmly belive that, given more time to understand it, the world will eventually learn to accept it as a positive deviation from the 'norm'.