Hi Amy and everyone else. I really should say something about myself really but I'm constantly pressed for time. So busy, busy, busy. Suffice to say that I am pretty convinced that I have mild AS but haven't been able to get diagnosis due to lack of facilities in NW Irleland.

Anyway, to get back to my main point, the reason why I am arguing for neurological minority is that the term gets to the nub of what makes us different. Yes, we could say that we were a cultural minority, and we could argue this on the basis that we have a shared way of communicating, looking at the world etc. but this avoids the central question of what precisely makes us different. If we argue that we are a cultural minority pure and simple then our opponents could easily argue that other cultural minorities don't suffer from a 'personality disorder'. It would be much the same as if gay activists back in the early days of their movement had argued that they were a cultural minority - their opponents would probably have responded with: "Well other minorities don't commit acts of sexual perversion". Instead, they defined themselves according to precisely what made them different - their sexual orientation, thus preventing that kind of argument and insisting on their rights precisely because of the thing that made them different and discriminated against. So it should be the same with us - we should argue that we are a neurological group. Like the gay rights activists, who invented the whole paradigm of the sexual minority (which didn't exist before) we are then creating a new paradigm rather than trying to artificially shoehorn ourselves into an already existing camp, an act which, as I've said, essentially dodges the question as to what makes us different.

BTW I actually think (and I'm expecting to be shot down in flames for this) that we should find a way to relate to the disabled movement rather than reject any identification with it on the basis that we're just not disabled. I say this because, if one accepts the Social Modal of Disability as a socially constructed phenomenon rather than an absolute category, then we aspies are 'disabled' precisely because of society's attitudes to us!
I should point out that many deaf people regard themselves as a linguistic minority (sign language users) and not disabled yet still regard themselves as part of the disabled activists community.

Anyway, have to get back to my work now. I'm working on a voluntary project on physiotherapy for the MS Society.

Cheers

Roderick