Aspies to be demoted to Autistics.

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Could be a troll. But around here, when people respond to trolls, we often end up having a good, civil discussion out of it. I wonder, does that count as trolling the troll?

Damn those trolls, tricking us into thoughtful, intellectual discussion again.

My thoughts on the change: no matter what the name is I still have it. Honestly saying I have autism sounds better than aspergers. I'm in highschool and aspergers sounds too much like ass burgers, not a good combination.

Ruveyn is a long time member who happens to spend a lot of time on other forums here (PPR in particular), not much in General Autism (since I've been a member anyway). He tends to be very brief and to the point posting. It's his opinion.

Trolling, IMHO, is not his purpose.

Okay. I'll stop making accusations. After all, it's not like you'd never see a clumsy turn of phrase used on a forum full of autistic people!

On that note, does this mean we're now all going to be paid less for being autistic?

'Cause if that's the case, I QUIT!!

Wait, you get PAID?

Getting back to the thread at hand.

It appears to be good science to move Aspergers into the autism family. I just hope it doesn't exclude a diagnosis from those who should have one.

I once told my family doctor that medicine is the least exact of the sciences (I'm an engineer - what can I say) so I should not complain when those in the medical profession actually try to improve their understanding of the human genome.

I think I prefer "high functioning autism" to "Asperger's" anyhow. My official Dx is Asperger's...

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Last edited by SpiritBlooms on 04 Dec 2012, 2:17 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Asperger Syndrome has become a stereotype more than a diagnosis that well-defines a group of people and gets them the help that they need. I am glad that it is going bye bye and taking PDD-NOS with it. Now, we can just have the autism spectrum. The criteria dont' say that you have to be like a stereotype of someone with classic autism to be diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. They give a range of behaviors covering severe to mild differences from typical.

It's nice to know you consider me to be a "demotion" from you.

It should be fairly obvious to most people that DSM is written by psychiatrists not by politicians. Historically DSM evolved from standardised testing used in the 1900s to filter out recruits in the army and police force who pose a risk. It was also used as criteria for institutionalising individuals who were a risk to society (and thus a risk of incarceration).
At no stage has DSM ever been linked to public funding.

Most psychiatric conditions are constructs where there is little knowledge of which genes result in the condition or the cause of genetic abnormality ( i.e. chromosomal damage during meiosis or exposure to environmental changes in utero). This is particularly the case with autism.

I've come to terms with this and believe that the perception will adjust over time. I'm not getting into why it's BAD SCIENCE, but I'll go over the problems with painting it with a broad stroke.

The big problem, guys, is that due to so FEW people being diagnosed as "High Functioning Autism" before, and most people being previously diagnosed with Low or Mid-level Autism is that there will be an immediate slant of disbelief, that those Aspies now considered as Autistics don't have Autism at all! They're just "awkward people" who have to "tough it out" and deserve zero psychological help or treatment. That's what people are fearing, and what is most likely true. Why? Because the gut instinct for someone, when they think of an Autistic Person is that they're extreme, and if you're not extreme, you're not Autistic. This goes over everything that is present now supporting us.

I personally am extremely concerned I'll get ZERO psychological healthcare covered by insurance, since I have to now be re-diagnosed and because I'm not constantly impaired. So, just because you fit pretty well into the classical Autism category already, do not forget the consequences of what's being done here. Many of us may be let out on our own, to struggle and fend for ourselves. Imagine if that was possible going to happen to you. Just think about it.

LOL! I think we can just accept this is probably correct in the context of public perception of Aspergers VS Autism in the NT community. The public perception of these two labels interests me because my daughter was diagnosed autistic but has an IQ off the Richter scale. This poses some interesting dillemmas.

On the one end of the ASD spectrum you have high functioning "Aspies" who blend into NT society (such as myself) for whom special needs assistance are not necessary. People like myself never needed to be diagnosed because we are considered only slightly "weird" but fitted in nicely with geeks and other socially accepted peripheral groups. For people in this group the DSM changes mean nothing.

For Aspergers who rely on special needs assistance and need to explain their non-NT behaviour to NTs the loss of Aspergers in DSM will (I accept) mean some changes. There are two fears here. The first relates to loss of funding and/or assistance. This has been tagged here in Australia as a major issue for Aspies and their parents. According to spokespeople from the relevant Australian health and education departments funding and assistance will now be linked to criteria based needs (i.e. needs based funding) and not to the specific label carried by the person. Therefore the funding will be related to the person's "degree of functionality". If anything this should make it easier for people formerly carrying a diagnosis of Aspergers to dip into the funding pie.

The second fear is a social one. In my experience if I tell people my daughter has Aspergers (I do this just out of curiosity) the response is always one of surprise but then followed by "so she must be very bright" (which she is). There seems to be a perception Aspies are eccentric little professors who are prone to bouts of craziness. On the other hand, when I tell people she has Autism the response is always negative. Primarily there is a look of shock followed by a stream of condolences. The responses from the public are fairly clear.
Aspergers - Oh that must be a challenge! but you child must be quite smart! (person percieves your child is odd/strange but somehow smarter than the average kid)
Autism - Oh I'm so sorry! does she go to special school (she doesn't), (person percieves your child is ret*d/disabled)

So I can completely understand Ruyven's response from a his fear of social perceptions. My guess is most Aspies will continue to use their original diagnosis for social convenience. I'm curious what will happen to all the Apsergers socieities in Australia who don't allow parents with autistic children to join their exclusive little groups? Parent's with high functioning kids will probably have to learn to script to explain how their child "isn't Rainman" and how it's only a "mild" form of autism. New challenges ahead for the Aspie elitists and apologists.

then why did they tighten the criteria?