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.
What do you think these physical differences reveal?
Yes, I have looked at the 'evidence'. It is not clear that you can conflate apparent physical differences (very small though they are) with causes. Society indoctrinates people to behave a certain way; behaviour changes the structure of the brain, which is plastic. It is hard to disentangle effect from cause. I am no Scientist, so I must be stupid, but the real-world is very different from a Scientific laboratory - there are so many variables that can affect the brain. Secondarily, how do we KNOW that minute differences in brain structure significantly affect behaviour? And, also, what about the myriad differences between the brains of women or between the brains of men?
What does the research prove?