Creating bridges between people with Asperger's and neurotypical people: a model for collaboration

Outside specialist contexts, most people are not sure what Asperger’s syndrome (AS) actually is. Secondary school is often a delicate period for AS children because they pass from a more protected environment to an... [ view full abstract ]

Outside specialist contexts, most people are not sure what Asperger’s syndrome (AS) actually is. Secondary school is often a delicate period for AS children because they pass from a more protected environment to an increasingly socially exposed environment. Following the motto, “Nothing about us without us”, we developed an educational project for secondary schools about Asperger’s, alongside 4 adults with AS.
Our main objective was to give people with AS who had been through the school system a voice; to allow them to tell their stories and be heard. The other objectives were to create strongly visual educational material which illustrated the challenges the 4 adults with Asperger’s had actually faced, as well as the positive strategies they’d developed, and to communicate these experiences effectively to the secondary school audience.
Over the course of five meetings, we developed the idea of creating an educational exhibition. The adults with AS worked with two professionals in a collaborative, active listening environment to communicate their lived experiences. They then met with two artists, with whom they worked to create an aesthetically engaging educational support.
These collaborations demonstrated that it’s possible to develop educational projects about inclusion, directly involving people with AS. When we worked alongside people with AS to transmit a specific, pragmatic understanding of the syndrome, the message was received more readily by neurotypical people. This resulted in rich, constructive dialogue between all parties.