We should keep the separate Asperger's category

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Yes, I agree--"disorder". The impairment is real, and it can't be diagnosed without impairment. But a disorder does not need to make your life worse; nor is it something that automatically means that your best possible future includes getting rid of it. Disability is a neutral thing, however much society wants to make it seem horrible. Best thing we can do about it is just to say, "hey, I'm disabled; so what?", live our lives the way we want to, and let them figure it out for themselves. (I know some sub-clinical variant and adult autistics aren't disabled--this is the difference between "culturally autistic" and "diagnosable autistic". Having the autistic neurology and thinking style doesn't necessarily mean you can be diagnosed. Of course, it does mean you fit into the autistic community just as well as anyone who can be diagnosed, which is why I tag these cases with the name "culturally autistic"--like a culturally Deaf person with a cochlear implant or really good lip-reading ability.)

...except when it does. Asperger's is inevitably, in any rundown on the condition, tagged with the phrase "high-functioning autism" or "mild autism". And that connects it to all the stereotypes of autism, just one step removed.

When I was first diagnosed with Asperger's, I too thought it was a completely different thing from Autism. I had this stereotype of autism in my head that meant non-verbal, unable to do much of anything, unable to understand other people even existed.

But then I started interacting with people diagnosed with Autism, and with their parents (in the cases of children and/or non-verbal individuals). I was surprised, initially, with how much I had in common with them. I started using some of the same strategies they use to help "low-functioning" people deal with transitions, or keep up with self-care, or work around self-injury. Some of those strategies worked for me, too. I met more than one diagnosed Kanner's autie who was better at many things than I was, and talked to parents who told about their non-verbal children doing things that were very familiar to me because I had done them too.

The thing is, the "popular conception of Autism" has very little to do with actual autism, either. But actual autism has a lot to do with Asperger's--to the point that most diagnosed autistics cannot be told apart from diagnosed aspies, especially once they are past the early years when the Autism group has more non-verbal members.

Asperger's is not fundamentally different from Autism. Autism is simply a big group with a lot of diversity and no clear way to divide it into subgroups. The only solution I can see is to simply teach people that Autism is diverse. I know it can be done because many people already know this about other conditions that include very diverse presentations, like cerebral palsy and developmental delay. I think if we teach them that about autism, too, we won't have to worry about being stereotyped. Trying to avoid the stereotype by playing with names can only delay the solution--the new name will simply inherit the stereotype of the old one.

Last edited by Callista on 06 Mar 2010, 8:54 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Well, if you believe in that, there is an even simplest solution - not lumping Asperger with autism, nor keeping Asperger as a distinct category, bu simply removing Asperger's from the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders".

Ah, yes, like those people who think that ADHD is "not real" and the kids just "need a swift kick in the butt"... Yeah, let's go back to those days! (Heavy sarcasm here.)

The whole "not a disorder" thing is probably better stated as "not a disease"; as in, "there is nothing about the autistic brain that needs to be 'fixed'"--because autism is the brain's natural condition, not an upset of the healthy state. The proper response to an individual with a disorder, rather than a disease, is education to help the individual to become more independent and competent in multiple areas, as is the goal of education in every child. And that is what quality autism therapy is, whether you're a non-verbal toddler or an Aspie teenager; or, for that matter, an adult.

Maybe all the yelling about "Autism isn't a disorder!" is a sort of reaction to the medical model of disability--the idea that if you're disabled, it's no more than a sickness that's got to be cured. When people start saying that about your own personal brain, it's quite natural to get offended.

There are two ways to deal with that perception of disability: Either you say, "Hey, I'm not disabled!"--or else, you say, "Hey, disability isn't what you think it is!" People who are saying that autism "isn't a disorder/disability" may simply not have thought that the second possibility is even an option.

Society takes it for granted that disability is a Bad Thing. Sometimes maybe we simply don't realize that this idea can be challenged; and as a result try to say that autism is not a Bad Thing by claiming it is not a disability.

Something I forgot:

Hans Asperger actually called it "autism" in his paper, in reference to the marked similarities of "autism" in Schizophrenia, except for the psychotic and/or delusional features.

Kanner did the same thing for the most part.

Autistic people are different - true. So are aspies!

We aspies are autistic just as our non-aspie brothers. As a person who understands them better than NTs, I feel I betray them if I deny my correlation to them. I understand them better even when they don't talk, and better than professionals at times.

I plan to keep insisting I understand them, and help them, and fight how others treat them. We human being are all brothers. NTs/Autistics, doesn't matter. But if I understand some people more than others do, I want to shout that out.

I like your post.
I don't like seeing my autism as a disability, yet, because I'm not a label, after all - I'm a person!

My disability in realtion to others is my social skills.
In the same way, I have savant linguistic skills, and therefor NTs (and most autistic people) and "disabled" in relevance to me. So who's to stay what's disability?

NTs are mostly better than me in ONE aspect. I'm better than most of them in other aspects. I'm not overall disabled, I refuse to accept this theory...

If everything is under one label, then there is no need to worry about what type. There is one type, it's Autism Spectrum Disorder.
I think combining it all, will help open up help for those that have AS/HFA and PDD-NOS to get supports in places where they mean practically nothing to the education system and they push the children off claiming they are "high functioning" and don't need the extra support but if you go in with an Autism dx, they are more forced to provide services. When things switch over... yes I may be re-labeled to having Autism Spectrum Disorder but that doesn't stop me from still considering myself "Aspie".

Good post.
It is a concern of mine that with just 'autism spectrum disorder' it will be harder for people with AS to get jobs. One reason why is that certain employers actually want to hire people with AS for their skills. Like me, with my love of photography and attention to detail. But I also believe that we have to change the mainstream society's idea of what autism is. If we educate them by saying autism is diverse then eventually the stereotype will change.
PDD can be both LF-HF, can't it? I'm sorry for using functioning labels it's the only way I can describe it. In the same way autism is LF-HF.
Another concern is that those gifted kids that learn a lot more quickly will be placed in classes where children learn more slowly. Well, to fix this teachers and parents really need to intervene if they think their child deserves to be in a more gifted class.
Then we come to the bullies. Ignorant people like this will often exist, even if you pin a piece of paper to their forehead telling them that the stereotype is wrong. But there others out there that are willing to be educated. I saw it all the time when I was into communism. I even got a few converts.
And yes, I will rag on about what emo really is, as that stereotype is just wrong wrong wrong.

I have to agree that if the criteria end up more stringent at the high end as currently proposed, that will bad. (That would actually be eliminating the AS diagnosis instead of absorbing it into the autistic spectrum, which is how it's been described, but doesn't seem to fit the proposed criteria) OTOH, the DSM also serves the purpose of giving psychologists, et al things to bill for, and I've heard it speculated that there is APA pressure/incentive to create more and more disorders for increased billing opportunities. That might counter the insurance company pressures. But of course, who knows.

And regardless of intellectual ability, it could also leave PDD-NOS kids nowhere.

The proposed criteria themselves look terrible.

One, they focus on our outsides and not our insides as always.

Two, they eliminate the communication criteria entirely. Which... seriously, WTH? That means even many diagnosed as autistic now would fail to meet the new criteria if most of their criteria are in the communication domain.

And then the new criteria require you to meet all the social criteria instead of just some.

Which is totally backwards. The social stuff is arguably the most superficial and situation-dependent part of the criteria and they are making it central. Grow up in an autie-friendly environment that allows you to make lots of friends? You're out of luck. Just... makes no sense.

Exactly why I gave the advice I did. Why frame oneself in terms that are likely to be interpreted in ways that have little to do with reality?

I like the criteria.

But, that's probably because it's bang on in regards to my symptom set (something my mother noted too).

Why don't they just eliminate the language delay criteria between Asperger's and Kanner's ,call it HFA and be done with it? Sorry if that's a stupid question.

Interesting point.

I was already thinking that a "pure" case of AS (a person that does mett the DSM-IV criteria form AS, including the point of NOT MEETING the DSM-IV criteria for Autism) will have some difficulty in meeting the criteria currently proposed.

The difference between Asperger's and Kanner's is not only language delay - if you don't have language delay but you have other communication problem (like "marked impairment in initiating or maintaining a conversation"), and at least a total of six symptoms in all areas, you have "Kanner's" Autism, not Asperger's, even by present criteria.

Hmm, I'll have to go back and read more carefully. I was under the impression that this was listed under both types. Or is it the difference between "marked" and "significant"? I happen to agree that there are more differences than language delay, I'm just wondering if changing the criteria as much as they propose is really necessary.