Aspergers isn't a disorder.

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Not being into "pop music" or "soccer" is considered a disorder in this world, so I think aspergers must be one too.

I don't understand the importance of arguing whether it qualifies as a disability as if it could objectively be classified as such.

Aptitude is heavily dependent on circumstances. In a lot cases having sensory issues, not understanding social situations, and having trouble communicating can be incredibly disabling, but there are certain circumstances in which the neurological differences which cause such perceptive differences can be beneficial.

I expect that in the majority of cases autism causes extreme difficulties, but I don't think that that means it is inherently disabling. If a person has a strong desire to function in ways that are fundamentally different from what the structure of their brain would naturally predispose them to function, and if they are fundamentally incapable of doing so, then yes, it's reasonable to consider them disabled.

But a person who both has social communication issues but doesn't care much about being socially successful, who may have significant sensory issues but who also has the ability to limit exposure to negative sensory stimuli, who may have a need for routine but is also incredibly organized and who has very good ability to control their environment, it is not necessarily disabling. Said person may lack some of the things that are considered important by others, but I don't think it's reasonable to consider them disabled.

Being able to function is an issue of being able to determine what you want and how to function in such a way that you can get it. It's hard to consider yourself not to be disabled if for all of your existence all of the people around you have tried to condition you to act in a particular way that you didn't know how to act.

I consider myself. I do have significant sensory issues. I do have significant communication issues. I spent so much time thinking that there was something fundamentally wrong with me, that everyone else knew what it was and that I didn't. I was academically really smart but had(and still have) fundamental inability to understand other people's motivations, and regardless of how much I learn about them, I have an inability to pretend to be like them.

But I have an ability to learn how things work in extreme detail, so when I understand how something works I understand it in significant detail. Other people seem to have very superficial understanding of things. I can use that difference to make the quality of my work better than the quality of others' work. I am capable of doing good work. I understand every part of a system from a very basic level. I understand the systems that make up bigger systems that make up bigger systems. But being capable of working but incapable of getting a job is a huge problem.

I was basically non-functional in interacting with other people until I was in my mid-twenties. Once I learned about AS, I decided to watch YouTube videos, and I watched and memorized things, remembering exactly how to act during interviews, including very specific body language. Although I had terror when interviewing, I learned how to do it. I was able to get hired working in a job where I have a significant amount of control over my environment, and I have been told that out of all of the people who have had my job, I do the best job. I am basically still asocial. But I am capable of handling interviews now. I am capable of getting a job and capable of working. I am capable of memorizing the basic social interactions required to maintain a job.

I don't consider myself disabled. I absolutely used to. Now I know that I had just spent my whole life not understanding how to function. I didn't have an understanding of what to do, because I think in a way that is fundamentally different and no one would have considered how to teach me what to do to. No one would have considered it, no one would have understood it, and no one would have done it. I had to teach myself because I didn't have anyone who could teach me.

But I am capable. I am more capable in many ways. I am more capable in the ways that I think are more important. If I wanted to be sociable, I think that it would be more difficult. I do sometimes want some social interaction, but in general, I am not disabled. I am very unusual, but I am able. I may not be able to do everything other people would consider important, but I am unusually capable of doing the things which I consider the most important. I spent decades feeling worthless and depressed. I am not worthless and not depressed. I will be able to have a somewhat happy life.

Everything Callista said +1.

Yeah, verbal skills are there; too bad they can't be utilized for social interaction. Repeating factual knowledge and learnt phrases really isn't the epitome of verbal ability and social interaction.

Yeah again, the intelligence is there; too bad it can't be utilized for most things outside of a person's specific interest. It's potluck whether your interest is vocationally positive or not.

A society filled with people like me would be utterly dysfunctional.

There wouldn't be a society at all if it were full of people like me.

Actually, "society" is antithesis to autism itself. Society is a social construct due to humanities' innate social behavior. Take away that innate social behavior, and you have...clans/tribes at the most. Fighting would be rife compared to now.