Awareness for Asperger’s: Three Facts for Thought
April is National Autism Awareness Month. Here are three things the neurotypical person should know about Asperger’s Syndrome, one end of the autism spectrum.
By Ai-Chin Chen
April 29, 2015
​
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Oh. – A physician wouldn’t find anything physically wrong with Nashville resident Chris Freeman. He works like any other employee at LKQ Corporation. He and his wife, Amber, live just like any married couple. Yet Chris and Amber are both aware that Chris isn’t like people socially. Chris lives with Asperger’s Syndrome, now recognized as high-functioning autism of the autism spectrum disorder.
For years, society feared the disability named after Viennese psychologist Hans Asperger in the 1940s. In the mid-20th century, parents refused to vaccinate their kids in fear that they would become autistic due to mercury exposure; recently, the correlation between vaccines and ASD was proven invalid. Families disagreed with the redefinition of Asperger’s within the spectrum of autism since the release of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disabilities, Fifth Edition in 2013.
According to the CDC, 1 in 68 American schoolchildren are affected by ASD. In recent years, the number increased dramatically from the CDC’s 1 in 88 from two years ago and 1 in 150 in 2000. Among the numerous studies and misconceptions around Asperger’s, there are three facts that neurotypical people – normal thinkers – should know first before jumping to conclusions particularly about people with Asperger’s who may be around.
1) A person with Asperger’s wants to fit in as much as any other person does and is no different than anyone else.
“[People with Asperger’s] look at other people and they look for social cues like ‘What are those other people doing?’ and ‘I should so what those other people are doing,’” said Gina Williams, a psychologist at Solon High School.
However, when asked about peer pressure, she responded that “people with Asperger’s don’t understand peer pressure because… their perspective is that they don’t care about what other people think or do.”
Greg Hess, the 15-year-old varsity manager for Solon Wrestling, lives with Asperger’s and agrees with Williams. He said that people with Asperger’s try to fit in as much as possible, especially teenagers. Yet it’s ironic that they care about fitting in but not how other people act.
“They really want to fit in with the rest of society,” Amber said, “but sometimes can’t physically handle it through the avenues that neurotypicals create for socializing.”
By choosing to not follow the crowd, people with Asperger’s tend to be looked down upon. Even if hopping on the bandwagon, many of them end up victimized by bullying or discrimination, such as the humiliation of a teenager with autism during the ice bucket challenge.
Dr. Tracy L. Masterson, former pediatric psychology resident for A.I. duPont Hospital for Children, Division of Behavioral Health and associate psychology professor at John Carroll University, believes it’s a social complexity case-by-case due to the unique nature of every person on the spectrum. Dr. Masterson noticed the lack of day-to-day adaptations and social skills among her patients then as she does with some of her students today.
​
“I think it’s like anyone with any type of disorder,” said Williams. “You look at the person first, then the disability second. For lots of people, the differences that they have because of autism really makes them unique and special people and very gifted and talented in some ways.”
Two years ago John Carroll University held a panel for people with disabilities. A complimentary binder provided for participants included a section on People-First language, as in people are more important than what describes them. For example, “a deaf person” should be worded as “a person who can’t hear.”
Involvement within the community, such as the organization Autism Speaks and the club Council for Exceptional Children, promotes both diversity and inclusion for everyone. Yet not everyone believes that these organizations actually help them, so they make their voices heard on their own. Dr. Masterson is the advisor for Autism Speaks U at John Carroll University while the Freemans are their own advocates, much like many families in the autism community.
2) Respect and communication are the keys to connect to those with Asperger’s.
For teenagers like Hess, it is half understanding and half general respect. In terms of respect, he said that though he thinks differently and having Asperger’s isn’t a having a disease like measles. He said that with regards to understanding, neurotypicals don’t need to discriminate at all, like recent trends of ethnicity or sexual orientation.
“The communication is not an issue for [people with Asperger’s],” said Williams. “In terms of taking points of view of other people, or perspective taking, that’s more of a challenge for them so it’s more of a social disability.”
Psychologists, speech and occupational therapists and interventionists teach members of the autism community how to communicate effectively and take different points of view. Early intervention is the most effective treatment for autism spectrum disorder. Hess has been placed on an Individualized Education Plan since he enrolled in Solon, meeting with occupational therapists Pam Friedauer and Julie Brizes on a weekly basis.
For adults like the Freemans, communication is emphasized with respect. Amber, a neurotypical person, says that even she has a hard time expressing herself into words or describing it to others. Looking at Chris, she smiled and said that he helped her improve her modes of expression by his communication and describing how he perceived her body language.
“I see neurotypicals as self-focused by refusing to understand or open their mind to neurodiversity,” Amber said. Unlike Chris, Amber can take different points of view.
This inability to change perspectives may be the reason that people with Asperger’s tend to work effectively alone. They have narrow focuses and don’t want outside interruptions as they tend to think to and for themselves the most. Communication and respect are limited with neurotypicals as a result.
On the contrary, Chris takes an opposing approach trying to connect with neurotypicals.
“I have to fake emotions, act kind of belligerent and pretend to be dumber than I actually am,” Chris said, giving off an overwhelmed sigh after a long silence.
“On one hand, we [neurotypicals] need to be so much more polite and respectful and kind and tolerant,” Dr. Masterson said. “On the other hand, sometimes we’re overly polite. Sometimes we beat around the bush.”
3) People with Asperger’s are typically misunderstood.
Hess said that the simplest things may expand into major things. He added that people with Asperger’s don’t like the unknown or whatever scares them, which can lead to miscommunication between a person with Asperger’s and a neurotypical.
According to Dr. Masterson, the subtle, social things might get in the way of what people with Asperger’s are saying. Narrow interests and impaired language skills may also play a role in any sort of miscommunication. People with Asperger’s definitely don’t pick up on the “hidden curriculum” of social rules unlike neurotypicals, including social cues, body language and tone, which is also why neurotypicals might get the wrong message.
“Just because [people with Asperger’s] may not react the way you’re familiar with doesn’t mean they don’t care about you or what you’re saying,” Amber said, tilting her head with an inquisitive expression.
“Everything about us is misunderstood,” said Chris. “Because we don’t give off the correct verbal or physical body language cues… and because we’re very direct… we expect other people to be direct with us when they’re not direct. It’s hard to pick up on that.”
About 55 percent of communication comes in the form of body language. People with Asperger’s tend to miss what a neurotypical means because he or she tends to not look at the other person. According to Amber, they have a lot of social potential but very little ways to express it in society. Chris doesn’t seem to act this way, having studied social cues for years.
Four years ago, Chris and Amber met as college students at the main campus of the Ohio State University. Two years later, they got married and moved to Nashville. Today, they are treated as any other couple would be. Yet even if Chris has to sit outside after church from overstimulation during service or groans because someone ignorantly and wrongly described Asperger’s, he’s still a person. Maybe only Amber and his family understand him. No physician would ever question that.