What is Asperger's ?

by Neil Gardner

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.
• Asperger's may be accompanied by a range of other neurological and/or physiological impairments such as dyspraxia, dyslexia and Tourette's syndrome. In some individuals its diagnosis overlaps with Semantic Pragmatic Disorder (SPD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and High-Functioning Autism (HFA). However, as a rule Asperger's individuals can concentrate on one task for long periods in the absence of environmental disturbances.
• AS encompasses a wide normal to high intelligence range. However, AS individuals tend to have a higher Verbal IQ (V-IQ) than Performance IQ (P-IQ). Relative abilities and rates of development vary considerably too, with some hyperlexic at an early age and some with a marked developmental delay (catching up later).
• Unlike other forms of autism, AS individuals have no or only a limited delay in speech acquisition. Also AS individuals show interest in forming relationships and are very aware of the presence of others. The main difficulty lies in the social interface between an individual's self-consciousness and other members of society.

Some talk about Asperger's individuals as sufferers of a syndrome or disorder on the high-functioning end of the autistic spectrum. 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 redefine AS, for want of a better term, as a developmental and neurological difference.

Dr. Hans Asperger first described Asperger¹s Syndrome in a paper published in Vienna in 1944. However, his research remained largely forgotten until the late 1980s. In 1994 it was officially classified as a psychiatric disorder. Although Asperger's individuals share many traits such as avoidance of eye contact with others on the autistic spectrum, the condition differs from the classical definition of autism in two key respects. First by definition a diagnosis of AS precludes an intellectual handicap. Second, aspies tend to have very good verbal communication and are very aware of the social environment.

AS is a neuro-biological phenomenon affecting several areas of one's development. In contrast with classic 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. Indeed we may extend the autistic spectrum into the general population, with aspies (AS individuals) at the more aloof end and outgoing, gregarious and/or unctuous individuals at the other extreme.

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.

The outcome of anybody diagnosed with AS depends largely on their 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.