Wednesday was recognized as World Autism Awareness Day by the United Nations, encouraging nations and experts around the globe to educate the wider public and engage in dialog with this little known disorder that has increased greatly in the number of those afflicted.
The statistics state that about 1 in every 150 children are afflicted by autism, including between 1 and 1.5 million Americans.
Even more have been diagnosed with one of a chain of related social impairment disorders that compose what has been deemed as the autism spectrum.
One of those disorders is a form of autism known as Aspergers syndrome, a more mild of autism-related disorder, minus many of the belated developments in verbal skills of children and other issues.
Aspergers is something I am well acquainted with because I have Aspergers syndrome. It is not something that impairs one physically, nor does it necessary qualify as a learning disability. It is something that is primarily a disability that handicaps( but does not totally paralyze)one’s social skills or comprehension of social skills.
On CNN today, the network did a plethora of stories and reports on Autism. They even designated a page solely for information and personal stories as well as research and statistics on Autism and other related disorders.
One account, that was written by an anonymous CNN producer, who was unaware that she had aspergers syndrome until at the age of 48 she began doing research for a story on it.
Several excerpts of her written account struck a cord with me.
The one thing people seem to know about Aspergers, if they know anything at all,is the ‘geek factor’. Bill Gates is rumored to be an aspie [someone who has Aspergers Syndrome]. We tend to have specialized interests, and we talk about them, ad infinitum, whether you are interested or not. Recognizing my tendency to soliloquize, I often choose silence, although perhaps not enough. Due to our extensive vocabularies and uninflected manner of speaking, we are called ‘little professors’ or arrogant.
I don’t quite understand small talk and early in my adult life, solecisms were frequent. At meetings, I launch into the expected business without the expected social acknowledgements. It’s not that I don’t care about people, I am just very focused on task. Do you have to rehearse greeting people to reinforce that you should do it? I do.
Those with Aspergers syndromne often take things literally, failing to be able to read the social signals and subtleties that to the vast majority of people are innate common sense. In fact, people with Aspergers Syndrome frequently find them self in a sort of social haze, like someone who one day awakens to find themselves in a land or world completely foreign to them surrounded by beings whose customs they are totally unaware and unaccustomed to.
Here is one anecdote from the same article that illustrates the difficulties in communications and social comprehension that those in Aspergers can sometime find themselves in.
In first grade, whenever someone made a mess in the classroom, the teacher would ask a student to get the janitor. The student would come back with Mr Jones (not really his name who carried a broom and a large folding dustpan. When I was asked to get the janitor, I looked all over school and reported back to the teacher that I could not find it. After all, the person was Mr Jones, so the janitor must be the object right?
Aspergers can also lead to a sense of isolation for those who have it. They feel unaccepted, like the entire world is aware of a dirty secret that continues to be disseminated in social settings so often and you are the only one who isn’t. Every social interaction has the potential to be a social mind field of sorts. Just one wrong unconscious gesture or statement can lead to ridicule and ostricization.
In school other students noted my differences , and I was bullied ( and tickled into fits of despair) for years. Already needing extended periods of time alone, my response was to become even more of a loner. Uh oh. When you are weird, you are a joke. When you are a loner, you frighten people.
MY TAKE: But despite all these gloomy excepts I have to say progress can be made by people with Aspergers. I myself have made great strides in recent years through effort, some hardship, medication, therapy, determination, and remembering to not take yourself too too seriously. Self deprecating humor can be a powerful tool and can help alleviate some of the more humiliating moments. Also don’t hesitate to tell those around you about it, those closest to you. It could make it easier for both you and others.
Boxothoughts 