Is Aspergers clased as a mental illness?

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Ever since this whole Adam Lanza thing I've heard many people, TV presenters refer to Aspergers and Autism as a mental illness, (even doctors). I've seen this on YouTube because I'm from the UK, many other YouTube users seem to disagree with them. Does is Aspergers/Autism classed as a mental illness, and my second question is; if you are Autistic does that mean you are legally disabled?

It's not a mental illness, it's a developmental disorder. Completely different thing. Illnesses are cureable!

As for being disabled, yes, it's classified as such. Not everyone qualifies for assistance though. It depends on the severity of your Asperger's/Autism. What it does mean in the UK is that you are guaranteed an interview if you meet the minimum criteria being asked for in most public sector jobs.

Autism is what it is. Whether or not it is classified as a mental illness depends on how that term is defined.

As far as the other poster's position that an illness is curable, if that were the case, then certain forms of cancer wouldn't be considered illnesses as they can't be cured. Schizophrenia is another illness that can't be cured. And if schizophrenia isn't a mental illness, then nothing is.

As far as Adam Lanza goes, my best guess is that he had problems other than AS. Schizophrenia in particular tends to come on in young adulthood. So, I would guess that Lanza had this condition even if it wasn't diagnosed.

I will add the standard postmodern disclaimer: Not ALL schizophrenics are violent, but SOME are. And we need to draw the appropriate distinctions.

As far as I'm aware, it's classified as a developmental disorder. In some school systems here in my area it's considered to be a learning disability, depending on the severity.

Keep neurodiversity in mind when you think of what it really is.

I think that is considered a "disability", not an "illness", but I also think that this is largely a semantic difference.

About Adam Lanza, I think that the more probable is that he had some kind of psychosis; indiscriminately killing young children only make sense if you have some kind of distortion of reality.

I even not understand if he really was diagnosed with AS or it was an "Einstein/Newton diagnosis" ("he was an isolated person with strange habits, he should have AS"). And even if he had a diagnosis, the schizophrenia spectrum and the autistic spectrum are so similar in the external manifestations (social isolation + strange behavior) that I am sure that there is much mutual misdiagnoses.

You could call it, at most, a "mental disorder". It is listed along with mental conditions in the ICD and the DSM, but you have to remember that those things cover a very wide variety of mental conditions, including things like a head injury, the aftereffects of a stroke, dyslexia, or the delirium you get with a high fever. Technically, autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder, which means that it involves the brain developing in an atypical way.

Doctors are not all-knowing, and none are experts on every condition. The human body is complex. For example, a cancer specialist might know about as much about delivering a baby as a pregnant woman who's done her homework. It's not his specialty. He probably had a rotation in OB-Gyn, a couple of classes on pregnancy and childbirth, and that's it. Not enough to know all the ins and out. But he doesn't have to, because he doesn't deliver babies. The trouble comes when he tries to tell other people how to deliver babies just because he's a doctor. He knows more than the average person, but he's no expert and his information can be way out of date--not updated since med school.

You may or may not be legally disabled, depending on what you mean by disability. For the purpose of things like the ADA (Americans with Disabilities act, requiring people in the US to accommodate disabled people at work, school, and in public places) anybody with an autism spectrum disorder is disabled, which (ostensibly) protects you from discrimination. Many people with autism are not disabled for the purposes of disability living allowance, SSI, or other welfare support for disabled people, because their autism does not prevent them from working. But they are often eligible for programs that provide medical support, job training, and other sorts of assistance.

1: Just semantics
2: It can mean you're legally disabled

As far as I know, autism is considered a neurological disorder.

I think this depends on the severity of autism.
My brother has severe autism, and he gets a pension for that.
I have AS and don't get a pension because of it.

I see it as a neurological disorder rather than a mental illness.