Tyler Cowen’s article on the Chronicle Review about the way that autistic personalities have been misunderstood, mostly giving it unnecessary negative connotations by academics. He argues that viewing it as a character flaw or a disease is wrong because most people that thrive on campus are in the autistic spectrum, even if they are not aware of it.
Autism is often described as a disease or a plague, but when it comes to the American college or university, autism is often a competitive advantage rather than a problem to be solved. One reason American academe is so strong is because it mobilizes the strengths and talents of people on the autistic spectrum so effectively. In spite of some of the harmful rhetoric, the on-the-ground reality is that autistics have been very good for colleges, and colleges have been very good for autistics.
This whole new level of neurological categorizations (ADHD, Asperger, and Autism) is doing more harm than good. These are things that we’re only beginning to understand and labeling people as having a “disease” or a “personality disorder”, when it’s just a different and uncommon personality, is creating an unnecessary burden on people with those personalities.
via Kottke
For some it’s a burden, for others, it’s a ticket for help without which they would be unable to function in everyday life. It really is individual. Whether it’s “just a personality” or a disease or a disorder etc. is largely a political issue, but it is definitely causing legitimate problems for a lot of people, and those problems will need addressing even if it’s “just a different personality”. On the other hand, for some, it may be an unwanted label that becomes either an excuse or a reason to think lowly of oneself and to reinforce the belief that one is a loser who can’t ever do the things regular people do in life. It’s a really fine line, and it’s also really individual. But blanket statements like “it’s just a different and uncommon personality” that “is creating an unnecessary burden on people with those personalities” aren’t accurate. More accurate would be to say that in some cases it is, and in other cases it isn’t, and we need to think hard about what to do with the real problems and how to avoid creating artificial ones.