"Man har ju känt sig som en utomjording eller något sådant" : En kvalitativ studie om den subjektiva upplevelsen att leva med Aspergers syndrom

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study was to elucidate how individuals diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome experience stigma as a result of their diagnosis. The paper was based on a qualitative method, consisting of six interviews with booth male and female participants. We took part of previous studies and research as well as existing theories on the subject, in addition to the analysis of our empirical material. Significant in this study was that all participants were relieved when getting the diagnosis, as they finally got an explanation for what was wrong. The results indicated that the majority of the informants felt worried of the possibility to experience stigma and discrimination, which resulted in that the majority of the participants tended to use an avoidance coping strategy. The results also showed that in contact with authorities the participants in general experienced a lack of understanding and knowledge about Aspergers syndrome. For further research it would be interesting to study authorities’ perspective of their own knowledge and competence to meet individuals diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome.