Having lived in both Singapore and England, it’s hard not to notice how different people in both countries are when it comes to personality and work ethic. Growing up in an Asian country, Maths and Science were the more important subjects to learn while Art and Drama remained nearly irrelevant in our development. Their curriculum is more memory and exam based while western curriculum concentrates on building character and imagination. Both types of curriculum definitely have their benefits and neither are better than the other.
However, one of the things I found difficult coping with when I was younger and when I moved to England for University was socialising. It could be due to my schooling , or partly due to being a sibling of one with ASD, who knows, but I definitely had found it hard to communicate with others at first, especially with a more open atmosphere, where everyone was encouraged to socialise more at university. Eventually, perhaps because of the environment I was in, I learned to socialise better and come out of my quiet personality. This is because, being a neurotypical, I suppose I am able to adapt.
My experience of both curricula has led me to wonder how differences in culture can affect the diagnosis of ASD, so I googled it-
Freeth and colleagues (2013)1 found that Indian and Malaysian students had higher Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) scores compared to UK students. They suggested that particular questions in the AQ are interpreted differently. From these results it seems that people from Asian countries possess more ASD traits than western populations. We must note though, these traits are valued in these societies, as they can be seen to have a focused mindset on work.
It is culturally acceptable and polite for most Asian cultures to be more reserved. Also certain numbers in Mandarin are a sign of good luck such as 8（八）, while number 4（四）sounds like death（死）which is a bad omen. This makes them score higher on AQ questions such as “I usually notice car numbers and/or similar strings of information”. (If you’re curious, you can take the test yourself by clicking the link at the bottom of this post). This definitely implicates the idea that there could be more autistic traits in Asia, as it is merely down to cultural norms.
Unfortunately this opens more questions! Where do we draw the line at what really is an Autistic trait and what is just a typical personality trait? According to a global survey 2, the prevalence of ASD is much lower in eastern countries. The reasons are double-edged: over-diagnosis in the West and under-diagnosis in the East. In some areas in Asia, mental disorders are still taboo and people are reluctant to get their children diagnosed. I notice this happening in Singapore, especially when people directly stare at my brother in disgust.
In any case, current ideas of Autistic symptoms definitely lead me to the conclusion that the symptoms may not be universal around the world.
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Link to AQ questionnaire
http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/9.12/aqtest.html
References
1) Freeth, M., Sheppard, E., Ramachandran, R., & Milne, E. (2013). A cross-cultural comparison of autistic traits in the UK, India and Malaysia. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 43(11), 2569-2583.
2) http://sfari.org/news-and-opinion/news/2011/researchers-track-down-autism-rates-across-the-globe
elevatopher 