Should aspergers be considered a disability?

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The school debate team recently covered this topic, but I know both of the people who were debating this don't have aspergers, and don't personally know anyone who does. The topic intrigued me, and I was curious to see what those of us who actually live with it think. I don't mean to start any fights, just wondering what you think.

What was the outcome of the debate?

I vote yes.

It's a disability.

The side arguing that it was a disability won in the end, but neither of them had very acurate facts.

Lousy question
by definition it is a disability. In order to be diagnosed, there needs to be some dysfunctional aspect there.

A more spirited and interesting debate question would be:
"Is Asperger syndrome over diagnosed?"

i dont see aspergers in itself as a disability, but several of the effects/symptoms are, standalone even, things like social disfunction, hypersensitivity, attention span deficits...

Isn't that kind of like saying "I don't see paraplegia as a disability, but several of the side effects/symptoms are, like not being able to walk."

If it isn't a disability then an awful lot of time and energy is being wasted by millions of people.

It is by definition a disability. Debate over that fact is just silly.

The only way it can stop being a disability is consensus over the definition being changed, the same way Pluto stopped being a planet. The thing is, Pluto is still what it has always been. It hasn't changed one iota. Scientists may not consider it to be a planet anymore, but there's a massive difference between that situation and changing the definition of "disability."

If you change the definition of the word disability, that change would not just affect whether Asperger Syndrome qualifies. It would also affect whether many other current disorders would still qualify.

That is not likely to happen.

I hope they find the causes of Autism so this debate can be over.

My opinion is that being aspergian is more like being the only female in an all male country. Yeah, that could be a disability, but not in the sense of what I would considers a "real" disability such as blindness or a severe mental illness. Or as the name of this web site implies, just being on the wrong planet. It could be looked at as a matter of degree. Being hard of hearing or near sighted is inconvenient, but being deaf or blind is a disability. I'm aspergian, but an old friend has an adult son who is autistic to the point of needing to live in a group home.

Not being able to properly function in the real world isn't a "real" disability? And before any mild individuals feel the need to chirp in, you don't know what it's like!
Just ask any 60 year old aspie who is still living with their parents. I know many who are, so you can't tell me otherwise.
I'm going to try to go to school again cause I think I'm emotionally stable enough to handle it now, but will I be successful after that? In the past I just wasn't "able", but maybe if I find something that fits my needs (somehow) everything will be at least sort of alright. I don't want to give up or something, it's just that I've never succeeded before.

Yes, it is a disability.

Yes because it causes limitations and roadblocks and you have to work harder to get though them. It may not be a disability for some but it is for many others who have it. It is still a disability for everyone with it of course but just because they don't feel disabled or see themselves as having one doesn't mean they don't have a disability.

It is legally considered so in the UK and probably some other European countries as well.

The causes for Autism have nothing to do with the fact that it's a dissability, the symptoms do.

Yes, but it more of a disability in the way that being short is a disability than being paralyzed from the waste down is a disability.