What is Asperger's?

Asperger's, short for Asperger's Syndrome, falls under the umbrella term of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). To put it simply, Asperger's is a type of Autism.

Whilst there are a few fundamental differences that define Asperger's, the majority of the symptoms are the same for people with Aspergers and Autism alike. So perhaps I should start by defining Autism...

Autism is a developmental disorder that is characterised by a few distinctive features. It is important to note that, contrary to popular belief, you cannot catch Autism and you cannot cure Autism. You are born with it and it stays with you throughout your life. What you can do is learn to live with it and develop strategies that help you deal with it and live your life as happily and peacefully as possible.

The characteristics of ASD can be largely divided into three key categories which can then be broken down further:

  1. Social Difficulties
  2. Restricted Behaviours and Interests
  3. Sensory Difficulties

Social Difficulties

Many people with ASD find social interactions difficult and exhausting, and symptoms of this include (but are not limited to):
  • Misunderstanding (or missing altogether) social cues such as
    • Facial expressions
    • Tone of voice
    • Volume
    • Common phrases or sayings (when told to "pull your socks up!" as I child, I misunderstood the saying and literally pulled my socks up)
    • Hand gestures
    • Implied meanings
    • Jokes or sarcasm
  • Taking longer to process information, especially when given more than one instruction at a time
  • Understanding the emotions of themselves and others
  • Speaking and generally communicating their own thoughts and feelings
  • Getting overwhelmed by social situations much quicker than normal
  • Not understanding social 'rules' and as such seeming rude or inappropriate
The way I tend to explain it is that most people pick up how to socialise naturally as they grow up, but people with ASD have to learn it like a second language, and as such, it takes us a bit longer and we have to work a lot harder at it.


Restricted Behaviours and Interests

This is probably one of the more instantly recognisable traits of someone with ASD, but there are a lot more nuances than you would expect, including:
  • Having to perform certain routines or rituals every time they do something (for example, I tap my toothbrush on the sink eight times after I wet it, and it feels wrong and almost painful not to do it)
  • Having to have the exact same of something and not being able to change from that (for example, there is only one type of trousers that I find comfortable and I have to get them from the exact same company and I wear them every day)
  • Having key interests or obsessions. These can come and go naturally or stay with a person for a lifetime. Often people with ASD will be highly knowledgeable in these areas, becoming a self-taught expert. (Obsessions of mine have included: collecting rubber ducks, learning about chocolate, collecting art postcards, collecting stickers, nature documentaries and more)

Sensory Difficulties

This one is much more difficult to notice from the outside and is very easy to misunderstand, but can have a very severe effect on the individual. Most people with ASD will have one or some of these, but several will experience most or all of them, which can be a little confusing or difficult to understand at times. Broadly, they can be split down into two:
  • Oversensitivity
    • Sight - This can be toward light, colours and even patterns and also explains why I wear sunglasses everywhere.
    • Sound - One might initially think that this refers to loud noises, which can certainly be the case, but also refers to background noises that you might hear in a coffee shop or supermarket. For me, I find it difficult to distinguish between and prioritise a conversation I'm having and the noises going on in the background, making it very difficult for me to process the information that I'm receiving.
    • Touch - This is different for everyone and can be the light touch of someone brushing past you, or textures of certain fabrics. I personally find the feeling of someone brushing past me or putting their hand suddenly on my shoulder or arm much more uncomfortable than someone full-on knocking into me. This is also why I struggle with physical contact and am not overly keen when someone ambushes me with a hug.
    • Taste - This could be oversensitivity to certain flavours but also specific textures that cause discomfort. This could result in a very restricted diet
    • Smell - This isn't just disliking bad smells (which I think we all do) but simply struggling to process any smell, good or bad if it is too strong. For example, I have to use cheap clothes detergent so that my clothes don't smell of anything and have been known to wake up in the night because my sheets smelled too strong
  • Undersensitivity
    • Sight - This can manifest in several ways including poor depth perception or clumsiness, or poor eyesight, with objects appearing darker or blurred.
    • Sound - This could result in selective hearing or no hearing at all, and people may enjoy extremely loud noises or environments.
    • Touch - This could be something as simple as having a high pain threshold or enjoying being underneath heavy items such as weighted blankets or duvets, or it could be the inability to controlling their strength, obsessively chewing and eating things for the texture, smearing or squishing things such as slime, faeces, jelly etc.
    • Taste - Whilst this could show itself with an enjoyment or obsessions with spicy or strong-tasting foods, it could also present itself by eating or sucking on inedible items that would normally be seen as tasting bad.
    • Smell - Quite simply, this results in a poor sense of smell or lack of smell altogether, and can result in having poor bodily hygiene or having to taste things to get a better sense of what they are.
These sensitivities can result in someone with ASD experiencing severe discomfort or pain at something that might seem relatively small, and can also result in fascination or even obsession. These can become more extreme when a person is very tired or overwhelmed.



As you can see, there's a lot more than meets the eye when it comes to ASD traits, and you may be thinking "Well that's great, but what's the difference between Asperger's and ASD?". As Asperger's is part of the Autistic Spectrum, most Aspie people will experience many of the symptoms listed above, but there are two key differences that I will outline below:
  • No Language Delay - This means that people with Asperger's develop their language (learn to speak) at the same rate as everyone else, unlike many people with ASD. It is important to note, however, that whilst people with Asperger's are able to speak 'normally', they struggle with social situations just as much as anyone else on the Autistic Spectrum, although it may not seem as such at first.
  • Generally High-Functioning - This isn't always the case, but people with Asperger's tend to present with high or above average levels of intelligence. This means that they can often pass off as 'normal' but are usually having to work very hard to do so. My mum often describes me as a duck; I may look totally normal above water, but underneath the water, my legs are kicking like crazy in order to keep up. I reckon this is a pretty good analogy, apart from the fact that all ducks are kicking like crazy underneath the water and so there nothing to say that I'm kicking harder than someone who doesn't have ASD but whatever.


I hope this article clears things up a bit with regards to Asperger's and the Autism Spectrum. I know it's a bit of an essay but I've tried to keep things as clear and simple as possible. It is important to note that not every person with ASD experiences all of these symptoms, but the chances are they experience a good handful of them. If you are unsure what traits an Autistic person you know has, make sure you ask them! People with ASD are often much better at talking about themselves than they are about anything else so I'm sure they'll be happy to walk you down this list.



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