Asperger's

Asperger Syndrome (AS) or Asperger's is essentially a different way of processing information characterised by:

problems with casual social interactions, failure to engage in trivial small talk or respond to social cues that are not expressed explicitly.

failure to react instinctively to nonverbal signals such as subtle facial expressions, eye movements (e.g. winks) and body language in general. As a result most AS individuals have difficulties establishing eye contact. Although many on the spectrum can express joy through smiling and learn to recognise a wide variety of expressions, we tend to miss the small print and may take some time to translate their meaning.

tendency to interpret language literally and to use language in a pedantic way. The way this phenomenon translates into individual behaviour depends largely on a person's upbringing.

sensitivity to sensory overloads that cannot be filtered out. This varies from individual to individual, but often concerns repetitive shrill noises, bright lights or rough textures. In most individuals perception differs markedly from the raw feed our sensory organs detect, unwanted or irrelevant noise tends to be filtered out, not so in Asperger's individuals.

tendency to focus attention on a narrow range of circumscribed special interests, often known as obsessions that may involve details of little concern to most other people.

relative inability to undertake several tasks simultaneously.

In the United States in 1943, Leo Kanner described a condition which came to be known as a Classic or Kanner's Autism. In Vienna in 1944, Hans Asperger described a condition called Autistic Psychopathy however his research remained largely forgotten in English-peaking countries until the 1980s. In the UK in 1981, Lorna Wing popularised the term Asperger's syndrome. In 1964, Bernard Rimland established that autism was a neurological rather than a mental health condition. In 1994, Asperger's Disorder was added to the fourth edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV).

Though individuals with Asperger's share many traits with others on the autistic spectrum such as avoidance of eye contact, the condition differs from Kanner's Autism in two key respects. Firstly, a diagnosis of AS means an average or above IQ and secondly aspies tend to have good verbal communication and awareness of their social environment.

In contrast with Kanner's Autism, people with AS are more likely to seek social acceptance, but may find it hard to interact socially in the usual way expected by those we may be call neurotypicals (i.e. people not on the autistic spectrum). Engaging in small talk or responding to subtle social cues or body language may come naturally to the majority of the population, but not to people on the spectrum who need to learn these behavioural traits methodically almost like learning a foreign language as an adult.

Some aspies overcome problems with social interaction and progress to lead successful lives, often basing their career on a childhood or teenage obsession. Others fall victim to prejudice and abuse in various forms and thus endure harrowing depression leading to more severe mental health problems that preclude stable employment or even the completion of further education.

Asperger's may be accompanied by other neurological conditions such as dyspraxia and dyslexia and mental health conditions such as social anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder.

Asperger's and High-functioning autism (HFA) are often seen as part of the autism spectrum.  The main difference between the two is thought to be in early language development: people with Asperger's will not have had delayed language development when younger. Otherwise, there is little difference between adults with the conditions and some autism professionals such as Tony Attwood argue that they both are the same thing.

Asperger's occurs in about 1 in a 100 of the population. According to the the leading autism reasearcher Simon Baron Cohen, autism is four times more common in males than females, but in Asperger's, it is nine times more common.

Some people describe people with Asperger's as individuals who sufferer a disorder. However, any suffering results from our reaction to the rest of society, while disorder suggests inferiority or some form of malfunctioning. We might like to regard AS as a developmental and neurological difference.

The outcome of an AS diagnosis depends largely on the individual's social environment. We cannot change who we are, but we can learn to adapt our behaviour and develop better coping strategies, while expecting greater tolerance of our apparent eccentricities and a helping hand to build a successful life around our many real skills.