Hello,
Whenever reading/hearing about Asperger’s Syndrome in media sources or websites/books (Tony Attwood excluded), they nearly always focus on the social deficit often accompanying Asperger’s but almost always give little or no mention of any other aspects of AS, such as sensory differences. The trend is the same with just about all Asperger’s medical research I read. Yet, for quite a few people with AS, the sensory differences and other aspects of the condition alter life much more dramatically (often in a negative but sometimes in a positive way) than the social differences and for a minority, the social differences are miniscule and the sensory differences are much, much more profound. For the majority of Asperger’s people, sensory and other AS aspects have a large impact on life as well, often as large as the social deficit. Yet, research and the media focus solely on the social aspect and usually exclude the rest. Tony Attwood has talked about this a bit.
I am just curious as to what the people here think as to why this happens (because in my opinion, it seems quite illogical). I have some views as to why this occurs but I would like to read some other viewpoints first.
Thanks
Will
P.S., sorry for the long post
.
I suspect that it is because people are essentially self-centered. The primary focus is how AS affects them rather than how it is experienced by the AS person. The social skills thing is REALLY big for non-AS, it directly affects them. Sensory issues don't.
Griz totally nails it there... if it doesn't affect them, they don't care.
Griz totally nails it there... if it doesn't affect them, they don't care.
I'd say it has to do with "them" not understanding what it is to have these "sensory" issues... They've never had to deal with it...
They're focusing on the surface; It's like they're looking into a mirror without understanding that they do just that...
-"Hmm??? Who's that guy???"
Books by aspies usually emtion them. Both 'Martain in the playground' by Clare Sainsbury and 'Freaks, Geeks and Asperger syndrome' by Luke Jackson have good coverage of the other aspects, as well as first hand experience of all the ins and outs.
I suspect that it is because people are essentially self-centered. The primary focus is how AS affects them rather than how it is experienced by the AS person. The social skills thing is REALLY big for non-AS, it directly affects them. Sensory issues don't.
They also fail to realise how the sensory issues are often directly related to the social issues. For instance, who would be keen to go to social events where they felt continually bombarded by negative stimuli such as unpleasant noises and lights and didn't have any idea what to do or where to put themselves?
All the distractions from sensory issues make it so much harder to concentrate on socialising and learning to recognise social cues. Just about anybody would find it difficult to learn tasks if they were not able to focus on the job at hand without feeling constantly sidetracked.
It's often not realised how much we struggle with sounds, lights, smells, uncertainties etc in settings that others might find either pleasant or neutral.
The net result is we tend to avoid places where there are unpleasant stimuli for us and those often include areas where others usually socialise and form connections with other people.
I've also been asked why can't I just ignore noises or other things I find unpleasant and stressing but these people fail to realise it is not so simple. If I did that (assuming it were possible), there would be little or nothing left to concentrate on the things they considered more important.
They also fail to realise how the sensory issues are often directly related to the social issues. For instance, who would be keen to go to social events where they felt continually bombarded by negative stimuli such as unpleasant noises and lights and didn't have any idea what to do or where to put themselves?
All the distractions from sensory issues make it so much harder to concentrate on socialising and learning to recognise social cues. Just about anybody would find it difficult to learn tasks if they were not able to focus on the job at hand without feeling constantly sidetracked.
It's often not realised how much we struggle with sounds, lights, smells, uncertainties etc in settings that others might find either pleasant or neutral.
The net result is we tend to avoid places where there are unpleasant stimuli for us and those often include areas where others usually socialise and form connections with other people.
I've also been asked why can't I just ignore noises or other things I find unpleasant and stressing but these people fail to realise it is not so simple. If I did that (assuming it were possible), there would be little or nothing left to concentrate on the things they considered more important.
I love the way you put this - I struggle to find the words to explain and you have put it all succinctly. I would like to print this out, if I may? Thank you!
Yes, Tigger, you would be very welcome to print it out - I'm happy if it will help anybody. It's taken a long time to come to those conclusions.
I suspect that it's really puzzling to a lot of people for someone to not understand or not agree with "self-evident" concepts like how to begin a friendship or any other social interaction. They're sort of used to the idea that a person can have a hard time hearing, or can get used to it, but the social aspect of Asperger's totally confuses them because their model of reality says that people just aren't like that. So that's what they feel they really need a different category for.