På kanten af det normale: En undersøgelse af den sociale integration af unge med Aspergers syndrom

摘要

This masters thesis deals with the social integration of young people with Asperger’ssyndrome in their transition from childhood to adult life. The interest in this investigationstems from the fact that the number of young people with Asperger’s syndrome signed into the handicap centres of the municipality of Copenhagen has increased dramaticallyover the last decade. This sudden increase, combined with a general lack of useful publicoffers for young people with Asperger’s syndrome, makes the social initiatives for thisparticular group a major challenge of social work today.The thesis addresses this problem from two different levels of analysis. First, it forms aprocessual understanding of the transition from childhood to adult life through a legislative perspective as well as practice oriented perspective. And secondly, it identifiesand analyses the different elements promoting and impeding the social integration ofyoung people with Asperger’s syndrome. These issues are investigated within the framework of social integration, with a specific focus on how they are managed through social legislation.The first part of the thesis sets up the theoretical framework. It does so by defining anddiscussing the central terms and concepts used throughout the thesis, and by pinpointingthe specific frames of explanation relevant for the group investigated and the specialconditions it is subdued. The theoretical framework comprises theories of socialintegration, marginalisation, and social devaluation. The theories are compiled andpresented in what we call a ‘theory landscape’, which constitutes a theoretical frameworkcapable of discussing central terms and concepts from several different theoretic angles,instead of merely advancing the contribution of one particular scholar in the field.The second part of the thesis analyses the empiric material gathered throughout theinvestigation. This constitutes qualitative interviews with social workers, experts andadvisers with specific knowledge on the group investigated, as well as young people withAsperger’s syndrome and their parents. Each of these groups of respondents contributesto the understanding of the integration process and how it is dealt with from both a socialperspective and from the parties involved. And by doing so, they help us identify elements promoting and impeding the social integration of young people with Asperger’s syndrome.The legislation in the field applies a citizen-oriented perspective, which emphasizes theneed for better inclusion of the handicapped in society by thorough preparation of theyouth before the age of 18 and effective handling over between different departments inthe social system. The investigation presented in this thesis points, however, to a numberof obstacles faced by the social authorities when dealing with social integration, whichhinder the fulfilment of the legislative intent. First, it finds the structural organization ofpublic social administration, with its cogent division of rules and procedures betweenrespectively the children’s field and the adult’s field, to impede the efforts made tostrengthen the social integration of the group.Secondly, the thesis identifies significant problems related to individuals feeling‘abnormal’ or being met as ‘deviants’ by the surrounding society. This finding, which iscomprehensively documented in the empiric material and backed by the theoreticalframework, underlines the inexpediency of society’s tendency to operate with a dominant‘conception of normality’. A tendency, which often results in marginalisation of specificgroups, and appears to form a significant challenge to social initiatives, directed at people labelled ‘handicapped’.