I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you a conversation I had with a student. He is in his last year of highschool and lives with his disability – Aspergers.
Just to give some background info, I lead a group of about 15-20 teenagers all with High Functioning Autism, Aspergers or PDD/NOS and we go on social outings to the movies, game nights, adventures of all sorts and work on social skills, making friends and understanding eachother.
When ever I watch Big Bang Theory and see the character Sheldon, I always wonder how people with and without Aspergers percieve him – as he is known for having a form of Aspergers. So I asked. This particular teen said to me
“Sheldon is like a role model. He shows the world that people with aspergers can be smart, funny and have friends just like anyone else.”
It melted my heart and I was so glad I asked. Sheldon can be a prick sometimes but with or without disabilities some people are harder to handle than others.
I share this with you and the world only to let you know that its true. People with Aspergers or any other form of Autism / other disabilities can be smart, funny and completely capable of making and keeping friends. But notice that Sheldons friends do what they can as his friend and understand him for who he is. Not for lack of trying he tends to get his way but his friends do try and show him different ways of doing things and compromise on others.
Whether you have a disability or not remember that people are different and you should know that youth with Aspergers are looking for acceptance to be considered for who they are, not for their symptoms.
And I thank him. He is going to college to work as an educational assitant and he is funnnnnnny. He is charming and he is sympathetic towards his peers. I wish him the best of luck and thank him for the permission to post this. He confidently said that he would be happy to have this shared and felt like I was giving him an interview.
I don’t know if the writers of the show knew they were giving youth with aspergers a role model. But hope that we can better understand the power of a character on television in connection to the world of relationships and communication with and without disabilities.
Email me at mzzludolorate@realotakugamer.com for more information on disabilities and media and don’t forget to let us know what you think of how aspergers or other disabilities are portrayed in media.
One thing ive been noticing lately in books as well: Aspergers is being depicted not so much as a disability, but as a quirk that is more a benefit that anything else.
However, at the same time, the writers have tended to “scale up” the syndrome to provide better “conflict.” From my own personal experience, people with Aspergers aren’t any different than people with out it, except for the really crazy memory and ability to form conclusions that others would miss.