Why is it a disability?????

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The extent to which Autism and AS is a disability depends largely on what country or even what city you are in. Some countries and parts of countries have better autism awareness than others, clearly the more education there is the better schools, colleges, employers, and public service providers are better equipped to deal with Autistic idiosynacracies.

In my work, I am most certainly disabled because with it being socially based I face more of an uphill struggle than my neurotypical peers. The noise is another factor, I'm overcome by it way more easilly. I think not only that, the less public knowledge there is in an area the more open you are to discriminative treatment. A lot of uneducated folk have the kneejerk reaction to unfairly conflate autistic traits with anti-social behaviour, laziness, rudeness, ineptitude or even low intelligence (ironically).

If you aren't objectively disabled, you don't have an ASD going by the DSM-IV-TR.

All this disorders mentioned also include an impairment of the bodies ability to self-regulate emotional and sensorial states (I do not know for cerebral palsy) as in autism leading to (sensory) hyper-arousal, tantrums, meltdown or shut-down.

I think that the disabilitating effects of ASD, certainly HFASD, could be eradicated through better distributed public knowledge, better access to appropriate education for ASD children and better access to sustainable training and employment for autistic adults.

Now I dont know about other countries but here in Northern Ireland the local government have acknowledged that ASD people are falling between the cracks in accessing state welfare. They're now changing their definitions to include those with the 'social disabilities' so hopefully HFASD people will now also fall under the bracket of people entitled to help.

Good luck with that.

I'm not sure what you consider a mood disorder, but specifically, Bi-Polar disorder is defined as a disorder that substantially limits brain function, that will "as a factual matter, virtually always be found to impose a substantial limitation on a major life activity", in US Code per the ADA definition of disability, among the other disorders listed in US Code quoted in my other post.

The other requirements, to meet the ADA definition of disability, that must be assessed on a case by case basis are administrative in nature, as there must be documentation that the disorder is professionally diagnosed.

Part iii of that definition protects people from prohibited actions under the ADA, that actually have or are perceived to have an impairment that is not both transitory or minor in nature. For example, an employer that can be documented as firing someone because they perceived them to have an impairment that caused a substantial limit in a major life activity, that was not transitory or minor, whether or not it was diagnosed or not. That's where it gets complicated, in the legal world, and part of the reason that autism advocates were extremely pleased that Autism was added in on the list of impairments that inherently substantially limit a major area of life functioning. As indicated in the US code it should make assessment simple and straightforward, for those professionally diagnosed with the disorders that are listed in US Code.

For a person with a record of a professional diagnosis of Bi-Polar Disorder, if it could be proven that there was a misdiagnosis, or the disorder no longer exists, that person could be denied coverage under the ADA. That is a rare potential, but part of the reason they state "virtually all".

This is one of the major benefits of getting a professional diagnosis, as it can potentially make the difference in not being provided an accommodation necessary to keep a job, and being provided one. Any employer that does not make the effort to understand the regulations as applicable, per the ADA, is at risk of liability; they are not likely going to argue against reasonable accommodation, when they are notified that someone has an autism spectrum disorder.

The complicated part then, that could require legal help is what should be defined as reasonable accommodation per the specific employment condition.

For example. changing out all the florescent bulbs in Walmart or turning off the music in Walmart; that would not be considered reasonable accommodation, where an incandescent lamp in a private office would likely meet reasonable accommodation, or turning off loud music in a shared office. I do know of at least one individual that was provided the accommodation of turning the radio down, that would have never happened without the ADA, in this person's scenario. But, without that accommodation, she risked losing a professional position, because she could not tolerate the sound and successfully meet the requirements of her position.

Yes I agree, and these too are associated with limits of brain function, some of which have been identified on brain scans, in research.

The number of potential disabilities per limits of functioning in major areas of life functioning, associated in the entire autism spectrum as well as the co-morbids associated with autism, are extremely diverse, as can be observed in these threads on this site, where the people here, many of which are stereotyped as having mild autism, provide a full list of their medical and psycho-social difficulties.

A recent study was done by the Simon's Foundation that suggests that those with professionally diagnosed cases of Aspergers, have as much difficulty in life, as some of those diagnosed with the disorders that have been stereotyped as more disabling on the spectrum

While little research has been done with depression, the limited research that has been done to date shows that individuals with Aspergers are more likely to experience chronic disabling depression, than those with autism disorder. But, communicating how one feels overtly through verbal/non-verbal cues for some with Autism Disorder, as well as the 85% of individuals with Aspergers studied as having Alexithymia, is a related issue of potential difficulty, in determining if one is even depressed.

Chronic Clinical Major Depression is the number one permanently disabling disorder, in the World, per the World Health organization. Emotions are what motivates human beings to do almost everything in life.

Alexithymia is a significant issue co-morbid with Aspergers, that can potentially be of biological or psychological origin.

Recent studies suggest a potential of Aspergers as a gender defiant disorder, where gender specific characteristics that are usually sexually dimorphic in the brain are attenuated among females and males with Aspergers, as well as morphological measures of androgyny, studied in males and females with Aspergers, and higher levels of androgens associated with what is identified as autism spectrum disorders with greater numbers of symptoms.

Regressive Autism has been associated with abnormal brain growth specific to male children. Symptoms of non verbal learning disorder and pragmatic learning impairments have been associated with Aspergers. Inverse relationships, on average, of the measures of intelligence per verbal and performance IQ are measured in standard IQ tests per the research of Michelle Dawson among those with Aspergers as opposed to those with Autism Disorder.

That is only a brief characterization of what is a very complex and diverse spectrum.

Substantial limits in Brain function to describe what is inherently disabling about autism, per US code, generalizes a description of the disability of an extremely complex autism spectrum, as well as the criteria that currently exists and criteria revised for the future, that attempts to describe common observable behavioral impairments for a spectrum that is so diverse in potential causal factors, symptoms, and associated co-morbids, some of which may contribute to the core behavioral impairments that are observed together and defined as autism spectrum disorders.

As usual, Aghogday pretty much nailed it.

Additionally, in terms of what is considered a "disability," the U.S. Department of Defense considers my Aspergers to be a "disabling condition" as evidenced by the fact they were going to kick me out. If one is in the military, and one has Aspergers, they are DISABLED.

The DOD has different notions of what constitutes a "disability" than the civilian sector, and the Department of Veteran's Affairs has different criteria for "disability" than either the DOD or the civilian sector.

"Disability" may be a legal term, but not all of us live in the same legal sphere.

As for having or not having AS, I stand by my original statement that one must be disabled/impaired to have said condition. And I saw nothing in Aghogday's highly informative and helpful posts that would indicate autism is not a "disability" as well as an "impairment."

Try putting normal person in a place where he cant talk to other people for 5 years and see how much time goes before he goes nuts.

Then do the same with autism.

There is actually something broken or different when you have the best and feel happy being alone and feel absolutely miserable when around other people.


Its quite ironic i actually only feeling alone when around other people, how on earth that is possible. WHen im alone im happy and dont feel alone.

Autism is most certainly a disability atleast for those of us who it hit hard by it, Its Brain damaged, by brain is damaged, it happened under birth.

How are they not?

http://www.autism-help.org/comorbid-sen ... nction.htm

Up until this point sensory integration dysfunction including hypo/hyper sensitivity to sound has been an associated clinical feature/co-morbid with ASD's, and is added to the actual diagnostic criteria, in the revision of the DSM5 as quoted and linked below.

Not everyone with ASD's, report difficulties with sensory integration dysfunction, and the difficulties reported vary greatly among those that report or are reported to have the dysfunction.



http://www.dsm5.org/proposedrevisions/pages/proposedrevision.aspx?rid=94