Function Versus Dysfunction

The very fact that Asperger's Syndrome (AS) is largely described and defined as being (among other things) an "apparently inflexible adherence to specific, non-functional routines or rituals" is an enigmatic axiom that distortedly deduces essentially that there is only one way to be in this world.

Why is that?

So much of who we are is defined and judged upon what we do or what we don't do and not who we are at all. There seems to be an ever-growing list of disorders that suggest to me most everyone has "something".

What does it mean to be functional?

Generally, in Neuro-Typical (NT) speak to be functional is to fulfill a specific occupation or role the way that some majority does and decrees it should be fulfilled which is fine if you are NT.

Being functional seems to also mean to have or perform a function that is judged as worthy, desirable, normal often made more valid (apparently) by how much one is rewarded monetarily for performance of said function.

Function also is defined by judged capacity to do certain expected things in some pre-determined and pre-expected ways. For many, especially those who are NT, it seems to me that function and the doing of said function(s) is (are) all tied into a prima facie raison d'etre. For most with Asperger's being is raison d'etre enough, notwithstanding the often absent patently unquestionably visible apparent self-explanatory intractable impetus to do as everyone else supposedly does.

Asperger's Syndrome is defined by professionals as being all about "dysfunction" and "impairments" by those who are Neuro-Typical. I don't think any one of us with AS feels this way inside as long as we don't allow this NT subjective evaluation to condemn our sense of self, self-worth, and way of being in the world.

When you consider the following definition of Asperger's Syndrome as outlined in the DSM-IV ask yourself what is wrong with what is described below if you don't impose your own way of being, your own expectations of others and your own judgment upon it. My point being that what is being described below is fact (as it varies for those diagnosed with AS) and that it is merely a different way of being in the world until you impose your different ways of being or you ascribe your way of being (for example the NT way of being in the world) as being the right way to be, to function, interact, relate, and act.