IT'S OFFICIAL: No More Aspergers

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I've always been autistic. Changing my diagnostic label so that it officially says so is no harm to me.

I fail to see how "autistic" is a bad label. What does that say about people who are diagnosed with autism instead of AS?

OK, so we are all lumped into the ASD category now, I can live with that.

However I am still reasonably suspicious of this action due to the nature of healthcare being about the money, not to mention the stated motive of lowering diagnostic rates.

I feel that if we have a problem with the stigma surrounding the "autism" label, the appropriate response would be to address that stigma. Classic autistics have to face it every day; trying to distance ourselves by claiming the label "Asperger's" instead is just pushing the problem off to someone else to handle. And, for many of us (including me), "Asperger's" is not strictly correct in the first place, because we either fit criteria for classic autism or are excluded from Asperger's because of self-help delays. Asperger's itself, as written, is vanishingly rare, and many people who are diagnosed Asperger's are simply diagnosed that way because they appeared to be high-functioning by whatever standard their doctor was using at the time.

I think we're better off just calling ourselves autistic and daring the world to look down on us for it. Some will, but many will do a double-take once they realize "autistic" does not actually mean "worthless". The influx of highly-verbal individuals into the "Autism Spectrum" diagnosis means that they're going to have an even harder time trying to shut us up now, especially if we force them to remember that we're very similar to those people who can't speak as well and whom they've been shouting down. Well, it won't be so easy now. All those highly-verbal people who can talk the hind leg off a donkey and were given the "Asperger's" diagnosis for it? Just call them the cavalry. We're going to be able to yell even louder now. Sooner or later, they simply won't be able to ignore us any more.

We should avocate the instatement of Sukhareva Syndrome.

The sky is not falling.

I'm still worried about this and I will still always view it as aspergers syndrome but I guess I have no choice but to tell people it's autism spectrum disorder. Like if I said aspergers I could avoid saying it was autism until the end of explaining everything else I want to get across. To me if I said autism first I feel like the first thing I would get was "special" ya know. I've also had people not take me seriously about my diagnoses because it's apart of autism and they don't think just because I'm not lower on the spectrum that I must not have it.

I wrote this on another thread entitled ''High Functioning Autism definition?'', but got no reply.

However I gave it a fair bit of thought, and it's how I see the problem surrounding the terminolgy of this condition and how it is understood in general. Just a personal take:


In my opinion it's not that helpful to have conditions named after people in this case.

Hans Aspergers was a man who recognised this condition, this set of traits, in children and set to making it known.

Naming it is important, but this condition is in fact a vast spectrum, and the cluster of people with these traits, who are not completely mute and holed off in an unreachable wall of autism can be described as Aspergers.
But really, it's a high functioning form of autism, in so many different combinations.
Everyone with this diagnosis is different.

Some people who receive an Aspergers diagnosis are very highly intelligent and super talented, and some are average or below average intelligence and not necessarily very capable or talented. Some are so disabled by their problems they can never work, and can barely cope with daily life. Some are able to function in the world almost normally.
People's sensory sensitivity varies greatly as well

For me, it is vital I have order around me all the time. I have met Aspergers people who are not like this at all
People's organisational/executive functioning skills vary greatly
I think poor sense of self is particularly prevalent in OCD sufferers. So, sense of self on the spectrum varies greatly no doubt.

Don't get too caught up in the terminology. Everyone on the spectrum is different. Very, in some cases

I have severe OCD and severe anxiety mixed in with my spectrum condition. In my opinion, these are spectrum problems, part of the same mix of impairments, but plenty of other ''Aspergers'' people don't have these.

Like I said, it's a vast spectrum. You're autistic. Obviously you meet the criterion for high functioning (rather than low functioning; mute, walled off).
Use ''Aspergers'' for the purpose of what it encompasses, how it communicates what you have to the world in convenient short-hand.
Don't get too fixated on it as a supposedly cut and dry condition all itself; it really isn't at all.

It's a vast spectrum, everyone on it has their very own unique set of traits, some many more traits than others actually. And all kinds of different combinations.

Enjoy exploring the world of autism and your own unique set of traits!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXU8w336oGs[/youtube]

I, for one, won't mind calling myself Autistic. People can decide for themselves what kind of "functioning" I am.