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.
Scorpian, this is a bit rich coming from someone who called me 'emotional' right at the start of this thread. You don't know me, yet you prejudged me.
I did not call you sexist personally but your argument reeks of sexism because it suggests there is an innate neurological difference between men and women, which suggests that men are not as good at caring as women, on average, being better at active pursuits like hunting.
Also, if you would read what I actually wrote, I do not think all Science or Scientists are sexist. Even Scientists who espouse sexist arguments are not necessarily sexist in their everyday encounters with men or women. Moreover, there are Psychologists (a type of science) who have repudiated neuro reductionism because they see the person in a wider context. Just go to your Library and read some alternative views, as I myself have done - I have read the Essential Difference by Baron Cohen and it did not convince me one bit.
Secondly, you have not answered a very important question: what is the point of all this research claiming an essential difference if it is not translated into real policy decisions about the education of boys and girls/men and women? Science never stays in the laboratory, it influences politics and decisions.