Just Words
December 17, 2007
IMO, none of the categories we use are real. They are all social constructions. I often see people express what I and may other social scientists would criticize as “essentialism,” that is, treating Asperger’s and neurotypical as real things and not simply social constructions by the mental health establishment (just as some people reify gender or race).
What exists are individuals with various attributes (neurological, physical, etc.). Then various people look for similarities in those attributes from person to person, place them into categories, and come up with names for them.
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