Changing the name

Post Reply New Topic

Asperger's is a kind of autism. So is classic autism. Can we stop splitting hairs now?

According to the summarised defintion of the WHO, someone with AS has symptoms of autism but usually no co-morbid diagnosis of an intellectual disability and no early language delay.

In determining whether a person with AS is autistic or not, first thing I'd wonder about would be: What makes someone autistic?

Can someone with autistic symptoms/symptoms of autistic disorder (DSM)/childhood autism (ICD) be called autistic? (Aaand yes, I think so.)

Last edited by Sora on 12 Jul 2012, 3:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yet classic autism doesn't require a speech delay.

An Asperger's diagnosis requires not having a speech delay, a classic autism diagnosis doesn't require having one. I've heard numbers between 40% and 90% for the number of people with Asperger's who should have the diagnosis of classic autism.

However either way, Asperger's is a "high functioning" autism spectrum disorder. We don't need to split between the different diagnoses that studies have shown don't describe well any differences in how we grow up to succeed. We're all autistic.

I've read some place where the word Aspergers will be removed from the Autism spectrum. I have also read several articles where there is very little difference between HFA and Aspergers or no difference at all which begs the question: Am I HFA or do I have Aspergers?

I don't know why they are removing the word since Aspergers is much easier to say than High Functioning Autism.



Check out the Merriam Webster Online.



That's the trouble with NTs, some of them act like they know more about us than we do.

Last edited by Dirtdigger on 12 Jul 2012, 4:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I decided to check out how to pronounce Aspergers. I've heard it pronounced both ways with either a "j" or a hard "g". I listened to the word on the Merriam Webster online and it is pronounced with a hard "g" (ˈäs-ˌpər-gərz). I find the dictionary much more credible so it is Aspergers with a hard "g" for me.

Simply put, Aspergers is on the Autism Spectrum.

Hans Asperger was not French or French Swiss. So pronouncing Asperger with a "j" is like saying the store name Tarjay instead of Target -- silly and affected. He was an Austrian who spoke German.

So pronounce Asperger as you would sound the "g" in Gerber's, with a "gur" or "gər" sound.

I would have no qualms on using the word "autism" or "High-functioning autism" to describe myself if NTs were more enlightened on Autism. It's not as if I don't see the similarities between us, I do, but I'm afraid that using the same word to describe the two types of autism will cause NTs to make assumptions about either group that aren't true. It would just cause a lot more headache and stigma, especially in the popular media about autism and asperger's.

By the way, does anyone know what's happening to the terms "Pervasive Developmental Disorder", "non-verbal Learning Disorder" and "Fragile X syndrome"?

How will they ever learn what autism is really like if we don't come out and say we're autistic? Equivocating with "high-functioning" and "mild" and "Asperger's" isn't going to help--they're still going to keep that same old kid-rocking-in-the-corner stereotype unless we make it plain that we are really, fully, autistic--and, what's more, that we're as representative of autism as any other member of such a very diverse group.

You can't combat an autism stereotype by disassociating yourself with autism. If you do that, if you say, "Well, I'm autistic, but I'm high-functioning/Asperger's/really mild" then they'll just go on thinking, "Well, that person isn't REALLY autistic; REAL autistics are tragic and totally incapable of anything except possibly meaningless savant skills."

I hate the way that many professionals seem to be saying that unless you're obviously, severely autistic at first glance, you're not "really autistic" and your experiences as an autistic person and opinions about being on the spectrum aren't valid. It's a way of silencing the autistic people who can talk--if you can talk, you're not autistic enough for what you say to matter; if you can't talk, then you have nothing to say. I'm sick of our being silenced like that. I want "autism" to come to mean ALL of us, so that none of us can be ignored or left behind.

I wouldn't really want to be referred to as ''Autistic'', because, to NTs who misunderstand about Autism and only know very little about it, I think to them ''Autism'' is quite a strong word, a bit too strong for someone like me who has only a case of mild Asperger's that it becomes unnoticeable most times. What does notice about it can easily just be defined as general anxiety disorder or even depression, or just extreme shyness, but that's it. Nobody has ever suspected Autism or Asperger's in me before because I don't fit any of the common stereotypes or myths about it. Even as a child at school I never stimmed or had a fixation on a particular interest, and I made normal eye contact.

So I don't think I would like a label that sounds more extreme to other people than what it really is. It's like once I went to somebody's house and they said their sister was not very well and had cancer, and because I didn't know much about cancer I was expecting her sister to be in bed really ill, but she was actually walking about cheerfully chatting to us. It's because the word ''cancer'' sounded like quite a strong word and I thought ''oh my God, cancer means she must be really ill.'' It's like if my brother brought a friend or girlfriend home for the first time and said, ''my sister's Autistic'', they'll most probably imagine me as a severely low-functioning person, then when they see me greeting them and smiling like how any average NT would do, they'll probably get a pleasent surprise.

I don't really want to be an experiment or guinea pig while people become more educated on autism. Honestly, I doubt the lovely education would ever happen. A lot of people would not care about learning, they would just still label us as someone they would not want to go and party with, even if we were an awesome educational opportunity on the differences and similarities between classic autism and high-functioning autism.

A lot of people don't want to learn or do the work to try and understand us. They will just label us and find some way to alienate us even more. Very few would take the time and make the effort to try to understand the nuances of autism.

They're not going to learn unless someone teaches them. And you can't teach if you hide.

There are some people who are trustworthy and worth disclosing to, yes. In those cases, disclosure would come with the responsibility if educating people about it.

Other times, disclosure is beyond your control. When the word spreads, or when you naively explain why you act the way you do by mentioning the name of your disability to someone who turns out to be untrustworthy, then some people will use it as just one more reason to treat you like a lesser human being.

I don't limit who I disclose to (I mean I don't actively tell everyone I meet, because I don't speak to everyone I meet, but I never hide it and never limit it.). I am entirely open about being autistic. I post to social networking sites about my autism (not just about autism in general, but things similar to what I'd post on here). The piece of jewelry I wear around most often (not very) is a puzzle piece necklace with a turtle on it. Wrong planet is often up on my computer screen. I don't limit who I'm talking to or pay attention to who I'm around if I'm talking about these things. I might actually do a small public speaking thing (to a parents of autistic kids group that my therapist runs) about sensory issues in autism).

I've never had someone treat me subhuman because of being open about it. Nobody has treated me worse because of that. People have treated me subhuman for having meltdowns or for not being employable, but never for not hiding my autism. Usually it comes up in ways like "Well the reason I can't drive is because I have very hypersensitive senses and overreact to input that means I have things like sensory overload among other abnormal sensory processing. It's part of my sensory processing disorder and part of me being autistic. A reasonable comparison is expecting someone with uncontrolled narcolepsy driving, it would not be safe."

I am all for the name change.