It is world autism day today. Not here in Sweden, since it’s past midnight here. But in America it’s still the 2d of april, also known as world autism day.

I was diagnosticed with Aspergers sometime in my early teens. And there are some things I get angry at. People on both sides, try to use people with Aspergers in their political debate. Off course I think about Greta Thunberg. She might be the most famous person with Aspergers right now. Greta uses her Asperger skills as a gift. She does not like to talk in crowds, but her autism spectra allows her to talk in crowds when she realizes that she have to. That’s her own words.

Autism is by far one of the most complex and wide spectras amongst the neuro-psykiatric disorters. You can describe ADHD or Tourettes in a sentence, but not autism or Aspergers.

Aspergers, or high-functioning autism, as it’s called today, is a neuropsyciatric diagnostics within the autism spectra. A person with asperger view the world differently. They are cathegorized by a limited or unusual amount of interests and hobbies, wich they embrace with a great passion. We are mostly very talented and creative or have a very special interest. A lot of us are theoretical in mind, but quite bad a practical things. The average IQ for a person with Aspergers is stright above normal and often much higher. People with aspergers tend to be very talented and engaged within their own special interests, but they might have hard to focus when it comes to other things. We don’t use to talk about normal matters like the weather, or other small talk, but rather about facts and our special interests. This makes Asperger hard to go through, when it comes to social contacts and friends. We don’t always understand that other people might not want to talk about what we like to talk about.

That’s because we’re not as good as the average person at analysing the social signals from other people. Irony, sarcasm or understatements could be hard for us aspies to snap up. But it is possible to train those abilities and learn to read between the lines.

Since Greta Thunberg become famous for her magnificent fight for the envirement, the lies about her and her diagnostics have been spreading across the world. Some people go very far and say that she is retarded, mentally ill or that she has Downs Syndrome. People trying to use her Asperger against her, or for her at some points.

I am tired of both sides in this debate. Here is a little list of what I’m tired of in the Aspergers debate.

1. Aspergers is not a gift. It’s a lifelong struggle for most people. In some circumstances it could be an advantage, but it is absolutely not a dance on roses to live with Asbergers. A lot of ut feel lonely and depressed.
2. There is no such thing as a “functional variation.” The political correctness has really destroyed the common sense regarding diagnostics. When I was born, it was still acceptable to use the word “handicapped”. Then people started to use the word “disability”. But the last years an even newer, terrible word has come to use – “functional variation.” Why change all these words all the time? Can’t we just be calling things for what they are? I’m fine with the word handicap, disorder or disability. And I think that the word “functional variation” is the most funcofobic of all these words. It’s not just a variation in terms of everyone being different, it’s a normalisation of disabilities, and it completely obscuring the difficulties and challenges that people with disabilities have. It’s like saying that disabilities does not exist, because “everyone is different.” Hell no. It’s not just about being different. Stop using the word “functional variation”, please.
3. Disorder is not a bad word. Here in Sweden, there is a difference in diagnose and disorder. A disability like Asperger is not considered a disorder, but a diagnose. If someone says “disorder” hell will break lose and people will arrive with their pointers and correct you. I personally, don’t care if you chose to call it a diagnose or a disorder. I just want people on both sides to stop use my disability to gain polical points!

I hope some of you really reads this and think about it. Sorry for my bad English, I am from Sweden.

Peace.

<3