Published on 12, July, 2020
I can't stand stereotypes and do not wish to be defined by my condition. I would rather people saw me as an individual with strengths and weaknesses, some of which can be explained by me having Asperger's syndrome, rather than defining me by a label. This is why I can't stand the word 'aspie'. While having Aspergers is an important part of my identity, it is no more important than me being female, no more important than my sexuality or my age. I would hate it if someone did not see past me being a woman or past my age, why is having aspergers any different? The disability movement campaigned for disability to be seen not as an individual affliction or difference, to move beyond individualising disability and to see it as a societal problem: people with disabilities should campaign collectively to change society, making it imperative to see the person before the disability. I am a person with asperger's syndrome, not an aspie. I share traits that other people with AS may have, but I don't share all the traits, just enough to have aspergers. We are all different, to say I am an aspie suggests conformity with other 'aspies' and obliterates the part of me that defies easy categorization.
Yes, but human beings are different to apples and rabbits. Heard of existentialism? This philosophy shows that existence precedes essence. Functionalism equates a thing with a fixed characteristic through dint of the operationalist language used, highly prized by the positivist, Western language structure. It is hard to avoid operationalism in the West, but this does not mean it is sacrosanct.
Sure, women are different from men on a purely anatomical level, but here the difference ends. We are more than the sum of our parts. We are human beings and we act, changing objects into agents.