Feralucce wrote:
Here's the thing... So many Aspies want help centered around their condition. They either want or need education, Rx treatement, therapy, disability or the like due to impaired social function... Yet, in many cases, those same people will vehemently insist that there is nothing wrong with them and they do not have a disease...
Feralucce, I would like to point out that you
could be making the same mistake here I sometimes make myself, which is the lumping together of people who express certain opinions that conflict, without, perhaps, being certain that the conflicting opinions are actually coming from the same people.
If it were true that most who want treatment don't think it's a disease, that would be quizzical. But here's the thing. How do you know the
same people who are saying they want treatment are the same people who insist there is nothing wrong with them?
To put it in your own words, "citation please." No, please do not start collecting data on WP users and their conflicting opinions and posting them. That would be a rule violation. Just try to think a little about whether it's really true that the vast majority of Aspies who don't believe AS is a disease, also want treatment for it. Think about whether or not it could actually be your own perception.
And think about this. You yourself have said it doesn't make sense. Could it be that it doesn't make sense, because for the most part it isn't really true? I'm not saying one way or the other, I'm just saying it's a fair question to ask.
You've stated that the definition of the word "disease" isn't up for debate, but have you ever studied how dictionaries (medical or layman's) actually arrive at their definitions? It's done by committees that debate them, and eventually arrive at "consensus," not necessarily because the entire committee agrees with the final definition, but because they all agree that one definition, or at least a set of definitions that don't conflict with each other, is a better way to define words than placing conflicting definitions in their dictionaries. Yet, if one looks in more than one dictionary for certain words, one can sometimes find conflicting definitions from one dictionary to another. Ergo, definitions are up for debate, always have been, and always will be.
"Consensus" doesn't necessarily mean all on the committee(s) agree on the final definition. It only means they all agree to compromise on the one definition that ends up in their dictionary, in order to maintain consistency, and avoid conflicting and confusing problems among the users of whichever language they are working with.
This is the very reason the English language exists as it does today. I has evolved over time, directly due to debate and differing usages of terms.
The issue of whether AS is a disease, and the issue of what "disease" actually means, are two different but related debates, both of which are perfectly valid debates. It's not as black-and-white/cut-and-dry as you seem to think it is. The reality is quite a lot messier.
_________________
I'm not likely to be around much longer. As before when I first signed up here years ago, I'm finding that after a long hiatus, and after only a few days back on here, I'm spending way too much time here again already. So I'm requesting my account be locked, banned or whatever. It's just time. Until then, well, I dunno...
02 Apr 2012, 7:02 am
