What if everyone in the world had Aspergers?

Imagine a hypothetical world, where everyone had Aspergers....

I wonder how that world will be like. There won't be a diagnosis, since everyone has it, it's normal.

But what I wonder most is whether it would be an easier or more difficult world to live in?

- Reasons why it may be easier - 

  • The way that you think will be similar to how other people think (very logical, caring a lot about rules, routines, etc.), so it will be a lot easier to understand each other. There will be fewer misunderstandings among people. The world will be orderly, and there won't be problems due to people forming gangs, cliques, alliances against people just because. There will also be a lot of people who share similar intense interests as you (e.g., science, math, art, etc.), so conversations will be fun and educational. People will be very aware of sensory issues, so there won't be people wearing strong perfumes, smoking, playing loud music in open public.

- Reasons why it may be harder - 

  • People may still misunderstand what other people are feeling, even though they have the same condition. Since Aspergerians care a lot about being correct, if a difference in opinion happens, they may engage in long ever-lasting debates over months, causing both parties lots of frustration, instead of letting it go. People might not be able to tell the difference of someone accidentally making a mistake and hurting them, or if someone deliberately hurt them. People have stimming behaviors that while understandable could possibly affect another person (e.g., if someone stims by making random vocal noises it might cause another person with noise-sensitivity a lot of pain). 

What do you think?

Parents
  • An interesting thought.

    I'm not sure that we would all understand each other. As much as we have similar difficulties etc there is still a massive range of the ways we think etc.

    Although some aspies are very stringent about rules etc. There are others that just don't understand rules at all.

    There would be an awareness of sensory issues certainly but would the different sensory issues clash? For example some people really like certain scents that others would absolutely hate.

    If that was "normal" for everyone, would there be any understanding of it. Any awareness of it. Any support? 

    As much as I like the idea and I feel people would be far more accepted if the world was all Aspies. I'm not sure it would be quite as magical as we would like to think.

  • Yeah, that's kind of what I have thought too, as there are still differences the the way we think, and different ideals may clash. I think your analysis and reasoning is very well done.

    Maybe there might be some sensory rooms that people can go to, just like visiting a restaurant, if they want to experience a certain smell or noise?

    How about a slightly different hypothetical question: if everyone is exactly like you, would the world be an easier or more difficult place to live in?

    So, in this question, we can eliminate the sensory differences. And people's preferences for how stringent rules should be will be the same. But will there be other clashes? Or things that may be harder to accomplish? 

Reply
  • Yeah, that's kind of what I have thought too, as there are still differences the the way we think, and different ideals may clash. I think your analysis and reasoning is very well done.

    Maybe there might be some sensory rooms that people can go to, just like visiting a restaurant, if they want to experience a certain smell or noise?

    How about a slightly different hypothetical question: if everyone is exactly like you, would the world be an easier or more difficult place to live in?

    So, in this question, we can eliminate the sensory differences. And people's preferences for how stringent rules should be will be the same. But will there be other clashes? Or things that may be harder to accomplish? 

Children
  • Thank you. That's very kind of you. I enjoy discussions such as these.

  • I agree with you a lot. I can relate a lot to the part of finding it difficult when dealing with people who think something different to me when I'm sure I'm right. I also agree with what you are saying about individual differences. I really like how thoughtful and thorough you analyse things! I've enjoyed chatting with you a lot on this forum so far.

  • I find it difficult when people think something different to me when I'm sure I'm right. If other people were just as adamant they were right and we thought different things then I could imagine there would be a clash.

    This now has me wondering whether I would like myself if I met me. I think I might actually annoy myself.

    I think again there is such a big difference between people it's impossible to say. If you take work for example there would be some people with autism that would be very productive especially if offices etc were now autism friendly. But you also have people with autism who really struggle to be productive without direct instructions and without become very chaotic.