"Between normal and abnormal" : A literature study about adults with Aspergers snydrome

”Between normal and abnormal” is a qualitative literature study about adults with Aspergers syndrom. The study aims to understand how a person with Asperger syndrome understand himself. The study is built around two issues. These are; how does a person with Aspergers syndrom describe himself and how does the diagnos influence the self-image. The study interpreted four autobiographical books written by individuals with Asperger's syndrome based on a social constructive and social psychological approach. There is a risk that people who do not have the right or enough information about what an Asperger Diagnosis involves misunderstand the individual. This increases the risk that individuals with Asperger's syndrome may be devalued or get expectations of themselves that will be difficult to achieve. This may in turn have implications for self-esteem and self-perception. The results demonstrate that all writers feel that they are misunderstood, failed and different. The comparison is made with the "normal" and the feeling of being different gives a negative association. However, it also appears that when the diagnosis is obtained, there is a change in their understanding of the difficulties and life experiences they have. The feeling of being different gets a more positive association when their behavior becomes more legitimate, and there arises a sense of being part of the Asperger group which strengthens their self-esteem. Understanding themselves as deviant and odd change to a feeling of being normal though normal in a different way. This is also confirmed by other research (Larsson, 2007). The study also demonstrates that there is a dilemma between being the diagnos and being ones own person with ones own personality