Are we disabled?

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You know, I really like how you put that into such perspective.

I fully agree with you that the sensory issues make it a disability. I have had to quit jobs, isolate myself, and get help in school because of the sensory issues. In fact, now that I think about it, I feel that the social issues are a disability too. If only I could read your face, or keep up a conversation, or grasp the nuances of a social situation that everyone else seems to get, well, then life would be much easier.

My previous post about autism not being a disability in an autism-friendly world has a specific point, though. If sensory issues were understood, and taken into consideration, there would be less meltdowns, less isolation, less torture, less STIGMA. I can't count how many times people take me for a snob when I just can't handle their gum smacking in an elevator.

If social issues were less stigmatized, then perhaps we would have better chances at jobs, at friends, at life. My point is, the perspective of an NT is of ultimate importance when it comes to dealing with them. Sadly, because of autism, we sometimes don't grasp it.

So yes, autism IS a disability.

I know I am, even if it doesn't feel disabling to others. The extreme shyness and anxiety can be very disabling for me and can stop me from doing things independantly.

I was only diagnosed as AS in April, last year, but was already disabled for years before that, so I guess it could be considered either disabling or not, depending on who is being asked about it.
I KNOW I think very differently from other folks around where I live, and they tend to look on me as "different", or "strange", but that's just who I am- myself!

Normally Id say we are just different in many kinds of ways.
But still it is a result of disability.

The reason why I see this is simply that we can have even difficulties understanding each other.
We are not a homogeneous group like NTs with equivalent skills. There is clearly some kind of impairment.

This disability or the impairment is however usually accompanied with a lot of positive traits and abilities.
And we are quite effectively in coping.

Being on spectrum is not per se a disorder or being disabled. But at least for me Id say I am slightly disabled.
No use not to admit it. And it actually doesnt change a thing.

The demand for acceptance is still valid, as it is generally for all kinds of disorders and diseases.

Of course it is a disability however i try to get on with life to the best of my abilities.

No more of a disability than an immigrant speaking little English, or an LGBT person being "disabled" in a religiously traditional society would be. It depends on which of the autisms you have, or how it affects your life, because the spectrum is deep and wide.

As for diagnostic criteria, it really depends on whether you are recently diagnosed or have lived with the knowledge of this condition for quite some time. If you were a classically autistic child learning to step out of the box and live a 'normal' adult life, you will experience this differently from if you are a struggling adult who has finally found out that they have Asperger's / HFA.

Recently-diagnosed folks may see it as a disability, since they have finally found a name for their issues. Those of us who were defined as "special needs" from childhood may often use the term 'difference' to step away from the scene in which we were socialized, and emphasize our similarities to NTs a bit more.

Yes.

Yes, I would say it's a disability. Any condition can be disabling with if the effects on your life are severe enough.

This is not a directly applicable analogy, but take for example allergies. If you have a mild allergy to say, watermelon, I don't think it would impact on your life too greatly. However, if you have severe allergies to pollen, wheat, dairy, gluten and to an extent nuts then you could be disabled by those allergies.

It's not necessarily an inherent disability, because you may have easy access to/live in a society that mainly uses gluten/wheat/dairy free foods. But if you don't it can effect almost every aspect of your life, to the point where you can't be around some people who eat those certain foods.

Also, whether or not people with certain conditions are disabled by society, or are inherently disabled, while Sociologically interesting and important for the direction of disability rights campaigns, doesn't realistically effect the actual reality of being disabled.

Indeed, as it's been pointed out before earlier in this thread, it seems more to be peoples attitudes towards disabilities that need changing here - particularly towards cognitive disabilities. There is no shame in being disabled. There is no same in your difference being a disabling difference. The only same is in viewing and treating disabled people like they are somehow inherently other. That they are either inferior, long suffering martyrs, are a spectacle to be gawked at.

They, we, are just humans who, like the able, have a vastly varying views, beliefs, personalties, and interests, who handle their situations with varying degrees of strength, grace, temperance, anger, frustration, etc. etc.

/Rant off.