The Various Manifestations of AS
Okay, the title is a bit misleading. I will only be addressing the difference in the loud and quiet individuals with AS.
We (or a lot of us) tend to generalize our feelings and perceptions as being felt by everyone else. When these are then broken in some flagrant manner, it is akin to some sort of continuum ripping transgression. Actually, maybe I should revert to the first person as I’m not really sure most people think like this. I am extremely reserved and watchful of social norms around me. When someone butts into line or picks their nose, it is a like a gaping social wound. So imagine my surprise when I was thrown amidst a group of those with AS and finding the majority of them were loud, obnoxious and completely indifferent to what is socially acceptable.
Yes, yes, I’m aware that social impairment is the keystone characteristic of AS. However, I always took it to mean an inability to maintain or begin conversations or shyness, not picking your nose in public or grabbing your genitals. These people were like something from an entirely different species, and I felt no sense of connection to them. The whole Asperger connection thing just disintegrated for me.
And that is why AS should be further broken down to address each of these categories separately rather than clumping them together. I’m not sure having people so disparate in characteristics can be encompassed under the same diagnostic label. And low functioning and high functioning labels are too simplistic. While I can easily detect social norms, I can’t necessarily put them into practice. Hence my current situation, lodged in my parents’ basement one year shy of thirty.
