Can Learning Disabilities ever affect a Person's ability to

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Hi/Hello my question is can Learning Disabilities/Autism/Asperger's Syndrome ever affect a Person's ability to make correct and conscious choices or know right from wrong or use logic is any case thank you for your time also can people with Asperger's Syndrome be punished for crime or be drafted into Army ?

People with autism have problems with abstract and conceptual thinking. Some may eventually acquire a few abstract skills, but others never will. Avoid abstract ideas when possible. When abstract concepts must be used, use visual cues, such as gestures, or written words to augment the abstract idea.

www.aspergersyndrome.org/.../Tips-for-T ... oning-Peo..

Does it depend on how high functioning they are ?

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I'm not sure if the disabilities can affect a personality directly, because I think they're a part of the person. But I do know that the way educators treat people can have a serious impact. A mate of mine who has PDD-NOS, got an education where his disabilities were so much emphasized, he developed an inferiority complex.

I was drafted into the Army, but didn't know I had Aspergers. I didn't work for me ... got out totally frustrated. But for some people with Autism it can be very helpful: the structure of the work, the orders ... it works for them.

If you're asking this in terms of using an insanity defense, I think yes, but it's difficult. I don't have any sources to site, a google search really just showed examples of failures and abuse of the system.

I don't know about "drafted" but there is no restriction that I know of, but if asperger's is affecting their ability to serve I imagine they'd be quick to discharge someone for mental health reasons.

Why do you ask? Have you done something wrong?

I don't know about learning disabilities, but I know Asperger's/Autism is an automatic disqualifier for serving in the armed forces. If you are diagnosed and it's in your medical records, you can't be drafted or enlist.

As for being punished for crime, yes, they can. Asperger's is not a get out of jail free card. We are just as capable of learning right from wrong as anyone. It may have to be explained differently though. I suppose the best argument might be that we don't blindly follow rules - I tend to like knowing the reasoning behind rules.

i would not know. i have never learned a disability.

I don't know where anyone would have gotten those ideas about people with Asperger's. Many people with Asperger's are both hyper-logical and hyper-moralistic often to annoying levels. There is nothing in the diagnostic criteria that list an inability to think abstractly as Asperger/Autism characteristic. There is no doubt a tendency to take things literally.

Of course when I was in the USAF I had no idea that I had a form of Autism because nobody knew about Asperger's way back then. Basic training was a living hell for me. But I did okay most of the rest of the time - albeit with some difficulties but not fundamentally different difficulties such as I had especially in the earlier stages of my life in civilian life.

Having Asperger's or Classic Autism or even schizophrenia is unlikely to get someone out of jail. "Not guilty by reason of insanity" does not simply mean one has a neurological or mental disability or disorder of illness. It means that they were in such a state of confused thinking that they had no concept of the reality of what they were doing. These days it is much harder for that defense to be successful. Given that most people with Asperger's have almost a rigid moral code and sense of right and wrong - it would be extremely rare for a diagnoses of Asperger's to work as a sanity defense since logical faculties and moral faculties are usually more pronounced than normal in people with high functioning forms of Autism such as Asperger's.