Shopping online please visit www.buy.at/safe
Make
a difference
You can help us help others by sending a donation or
by joining us as a member.
Sponsors
Asperger Syndrome
People with Asperger Syndrome have a form of autism. They usually have average to above average intellectual ability, although about 5% also have an accompanying learning disability. However they all have great difficulty with:
- Communication skills, especially non-verbal language. For example, problems understanding the ‘give and take’ of normal conversation and figurative language. Generally they have rather rigid thought patterns, love routine and hate change.
- Understanding and interacting in social situations. For example difficulty understanding the ‘rules’ of social interaction and great difficulty understanding or working out what other people’s behaviour means. This means that people with Asperger Syndrome often don’t understand danger signals from other people.
- Understanding and empathising with other people’s thoughts, so although their imaginative powers may be exceptional, they cannot make use of them in social settings.
- Sensory impairments: Hypersensitive to touch, smell, taste, texture, clothing, food, sound, light and proximity.
People with AS look like everyone else but they experience fundamental social difficulties. They long for friends and they long to be accepted and to contribute to society. But they don't know how. Society can be very unkind to people with poor social skills. Most of them suffer loneliness and bullying at school and fail to achieve their academic potential. Few Asperger adults find employment, independent living or a social life. The resulting frustration emerges as anxiety, paranoia, aggression or, more often, suicidal depression. Without support they may suffer from mental illness. However with the appropriate support many are able to achieve their full potential.
People with AS often have special
interests or obsessions and amass a huge amount of knowledge about a particular
subject. The ability to focus exclusively on one subject and the joy that
people with AS get from their chosen interest is a great gift. People
with AS may find it difficult to maintain long term relationships but
they are often very loyal friends.
News & Updates
Emma C Runs the 2010 London Marathon
Copyright SAFE Supporting Asperger Families in Essex | Aspergers.org.uk © 2006 - 2009 All rights reserved
Charity No. 1095075