An Awareness of Asperger’s Syndrome Subcultures as an Answer to Surplus Suffering

Abstract

Asperger Syndrome (AS) as a diagnosis and as a community has been heavily debated in its form across both medical and AS collectives. The cornerstone of many of these discourses has been around how stakeholders and special interest groups can work together to the benefit of the AS community at large. This paper sought to uncover the proper union of perspectives to promulgate the best outcome for those identified, or self-identified, under the AS label. By exploring both the medical and AS community perspective separately, a four-part argument was conceived showcasing the creation of AS as a recognized label; the subcultural groups born from this label; how discourses insensitive to theses varying groups can catalyze ‘surplus suffering’; and how subculture led discourses can bypass this surplus suffering. ‘The AS Mood Disorder Synthesis Loop’ was proposed as model of harm through which surplus suffering takes form.