Anyone who argued that people with Asperger’s syndrome are not subject to less favourable treatment on the grounds of their disability would have a mighty job on their hands. Indeed given that individuals with Asperger’s syndrome don’t have a learning difficulty, it is not at all clear why they are subject to such detriment in, say, the job market.
One possible reason is that the conventional image of people with Asperger’s syndrome lead’s to some negative and unjustified opinions being formed in the minds of people who do not have the disability. To test this hypnosis look at the Wikipedia and one will see that it says that “Michael Fitzgerald, an expert in autism spectrum disorders, concludes that Hitler suffered from, and met all the criteria of Asperger syndrome as documented by Hans Asperger”. In fairness, the speculation about who may have had Asperger’s syndrome includes some notables such as Michelangelo alongside the likes of Napoleon Bonaparte.
In the modern era it seems like many of the alleged archetypes of Asperger’s syndrome, particularly in the fictional world, hardly promote a positive image. For example, who would want to work with:
Basil Faulty – Hotel proprietor
Andrew Martin – A robot!
Lisa Simpson – A cartoon character!
That said, despite this high profile it is rather difficult to find any positive role models of Aspergers syndrome. Indeed, when such a (living!) person is identified, it seems that the relevant individual remains silent on the matter. Perhaps they don’t wish to be classified alongside mass murders and animated creatures.