is the autism spectrum the best place for aspergers?

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is the autism spectrum the best place for aspergers?

As aspergers is mostly about social things
And that spectrum is badly stereotyped

I think it is the best place for AS - AS is about much more than just social things. It's a neurological difference, as is autism - there are too many similarities between autism and AS - between the experiences of those with autism and AS - for me to consider AS anything other than a form of autism. For reference, I have HFA.

OP, if you have asperger's and think it's mostly about social things, then you should consider yourself very very lucky.

Was Jaco Pastorius autistic?

Are you still doing this? Really?

Groups, especially minority groups, are stereotyped. For instance, 'Jocks' are stereotyped, 'blonde girls', bipolar people, lesbians, bisexuals.

As far as I am concerned it's like the homosexuals of the LGBT community saying 'bisexuals are stereotyped, so... they should not be included on our sexuality spectrum, and they definitely shouldn't be part of the LGBT community'.

Also, what bnky said. If you think it is just a social thing, then you are either misattributing other issues in your life, or you are very lucky.

It seems to me from a lot of the other threads that you have started that you just don't want to be associated with autistic people, or to be autistic at all. Which I find worrying, and I hope it's not affecting your self esteem, or your mood/outlook on life. I hope you're okay, mmcool.

He was diagnosed as bipolar. I suppose it's possible that he was autistic - he certainly didn't think like most people do - but I don't like assuming anyone was autistic though, when they're no longer alive and there is no for-sure proof. When reading about him, I sometimes spot traits in common with high functioning people on the spectrum, but at the same time, there's no way to tell and no way to know. I consider him bipolar and just 'Jaco'.

One thing that strikes me is the way he would move when playing - he'd often rock or sway. But this could just be something he did - I'm sure many non-spectrum people do this. Other things about how he behaved on stage also made me curious.

He stayed in a mental institution for a little while, and also used to take lithium, but he stopped because it dulled his playing and everything too much, even though it made him more stable.

I think aspergers fits the autistic spectrum well, but then I also think that ADHD belongs on the spectrum too. Aspergers is sort of an "autism lite", all of the same issues as autism but with some having less intensity than in classic autism. As far as the label goes, I am not certain it applies to me just yet but if it does I see no reason to reject it. It would actually be a relief to find out that there is a general heading people like me fall under instead of just being considered odd, unwanted and alone. I'll take the label "autistic" over the label "terminal cancer patient" any day of the week.

Asperger's is by definition not only social things.

People thinking like this is why even though historically its the right diagnosis for me, I sometimes feel like I don't want the diagnosis. Sometimes I wish I was just given a PDD-NOS diagnosis.

And I absolutely hate the "autism-lite" description. I'm just a different sort of autistic that is more articulate. This certainly gives me advantages, but isn't "autism-lite".

Perhaps you should read this thread about the differences between Social Anxiety Disorder, Avoidant Personality Disorder and AS; http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt201975.html

I do wish it was just a social thing
Well in brake times I walk about the games room near the AD kids :$
If it was just a social thing I would not be in a special education school
I jump on bed I run about alot
I know I need to start being more normal

Yeah... In my experience, AS as a "social thing" is embraced mostly by people with AS and social anxiety, who experience a lot of distress related to the social anxiety disorder. It's natural that people in that situation would see socializing as the hardest part of their lives and naturally conclude that it must be the biggest part of AS.

The social parts of autism are the most talked about not because they are the most significant, but because most of the people who describe autism are neurotypicals. And NTs are focused intensely on socializing. The things they see most easily about someone else are all social traits. When they look at an autistic person, the social traits are most apparent to them, and so those are the traits they most focus on.

I think that the underlying cognitive traits are probably much more fundamental to autism than the social differences; that, in fact, the social differences are probably just a side-effect of the basic cognitive differences. That's not to say that they aren't significant. We live in an NT world, and when the majority sees something as significant, then it inevitably becomes significant. Still, however important the social differences are, I do not believe they are at the foundation of autism.

I would says yes because they each share almost the same traits.

Thanks for posting that link. It helped to remind me that AS is a logical explanation of my issues rather than just Social Avoidance.

Sorry. I was searching for appropriate verbiage and that was all I could come up with.

The ADHD spectrum and the Autism spectrum overlap in some areas. However, pure ADHDers do not have the same social challenges as Autists.

I am not sure about the intensity issue. The main difference between Asperger's Autism and classical Autism has been in early verbal and cognitive development.

What connects all of these conditions is that they are developmental disabilities.

Well, science seems to think it's autism. It's getting rolled into "Autism Spectrum Disorder" in the DSM V.

And I think that's pretty accurate. At first I was going to be very adamant about using Asperger's instead of autistic to describe myself. I was afraid of the social stigma. But, I've realized there isn't exactly an absence of stigma attached to Asperger's. It actually confuses people more, from what I've seen. I'm looking forward to the terminology change so I can honestly just say I'm autistic and leave it at that.