"Asperger's sufferer" - Five News, 2nd August 9.55pm

[baddad]

Whether someone 'suffers' due to their diagnosis or not is a very personal thing. And you might consider that someone at the lower functioning end of the spectrum is 'suffering' more, but someone who is high functioning might be 'suffering' to the same extent because they are trying to function at the same level and within the same timeframe as everyone else around them.

As a parent I can only go on how my two children are. One is NT the other ASD. And I can honestly say that both of them have times when they 'suffer' because of ASD whether they are diagnosed or not. As a sibling myself of an older sister with a learning disability and undiagnosed speech disorder and possible ASD, I can honestly say that at times I did 'suffer' because of how people reacted to me and my sister. And in some instances I may have 'suffered' more because I had the full understanding of what was going on, whereas my sister didn't.

And at times when my son is having a meltdown over something I can see that he is suffering. And at other times when my daughter is accusing me of treating her brother differently I can see that she is suffering.

I also think that I am very fortunate that I lived and worked abroad for a number of years. When I first moved I did not know the language, but did eventually pick it up. So I have lived for a long period of time as a 'foreigner' with little or no understanding of the language and I can easily see how someone with an ASD and the language and communication difficulties associated with it will have very real problems even in their own country with their own language.

And with a different culture, language etc most things are not 'obvious' at all. They are learnt skills to any foreigner, and as someone said 'those with an ASD are a foreigner in any language or culture' - by that I think they meant that what is obvious to the NT population is not always obvious to them and is not an easily acquired skill, but something that has to be learnt and practised and which may never become an automatic response but rather a learnt process.

I don't like any media headline that jumps to the conclusion of 'sufferer', but as a general rule it must be 'harder' for someone with an ASD. For example I have auditory processing disorder and in certain environments it is 'harder' or 'impossible' for me to hear or hold a conversation with anyone.

But I also think that to 'suffer' you also need an insight into your difficulties or to feel anger and frustration at not being understood etc. I think that at some time everyone, NT or ASD can feel like that. But someone with an ASD must be feeling that more often and to a greater extent. If that was not the case then surely there wouldn't be the associated anxiety/stress problems that those with an ASD also have. I don't think that is necessarily just down to their diagnosis, I think it is a by product of their daily existence and the amount of effort they have to put in to simply get through the day.

 

 

Hi sally -

 

I think people have different feelings about what constitutes 'suffering'. I don't think any negative my son encounters in his life is necessarily 'suffering' any more than the negatives everyone else (nt/autistic whatever) faces in life, and i don't think all of the negatives he suffers in life are attributable to his autism. You mentioned your own auditory processing disorder in the context of 'suffering', but many other people with auditory processing problems would just see this as a difficulty specific to their own lives rather than something that caused them to 'suffer'. If having problems/frustrations/difficulties in life equates to 'suffering' then that applies to just about 100% of earth's population, from a child being sent to bed early when they are 'not even tired' to children working 18hr days in third world sweat shops for half a bowl of rice... I think sometimes you have to try and put 'suffering' into some sort of perspective - which is not denying the very real problems that autistic/as people may face, just facing the obvious that blanket terms applied to entire groups or subgroups on the basis of a diagnosis are very likely to do many within those groups/subgroups an injustice and have the capacity to offend. If the only 'suffering' your daugther has to face in life is being treated differently to her autistic brother she'll be getting off fairly lightly.

 

L&P

 

BD

Edited September 1, 2009 by baddad

[scaly_piscine]

Finally got a reply from the PCC (Press Complaints Commission) who were utterly useless, had the usual horribly broken logic which by extension would lead to judgements even these idiots could see are plainly wrong. Apparently you're allowed to write prejudice-inducing tripe so long as the individual concerned doesn't complain that the descriptions used are unfair (even though they themselves will almost certainly not be in a position to judge perfectly).