Why do so many people thank that autism = Mental Retardation

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A lot of ignorant NT's use the terms interchangeably, how come?

Because theyre ignorant.

Because some of the symptoms of mental retardation look the same as autism.

Fixations (i.e., spinning wheels, cartoons, animals, textures, et cetera)
Meltdowns
Need for Routine
Non-verbal
Obsession with a singular topic
Repetitive behavior (i.e., Rocking, Stimming, et cetera)
(Maybe more?)

So, to the untrained eye mental retardation and autism look the same.

(Dude, everyone is ignorant about something; so lighten up!)

There was a time where it was assumed autism was usually accompanied by a learning disability, owing to a much more limitted understanding of Autism and much narrower diagnostic criteria, meaning presentation of auism without an accompanying learning disability were missed

Misused and misleading euphemisms that change with time

Autism is a developmental disability

Because a lot of us are socially ret*d which comes across as general retardation to a lot of people. Most people don't have a degree in psychology nor the need to brush up on the symptoms and signs of developmental disorders, therefore most people aren't going to know (nor care) very much about the differences between vaguely similar looking conditions.

Like someone has pointed out above, EVERYONE is ignorant of something, it's not like they're evil for not knowing. I don't expect anyone outside of the medical profession to know anything about my condition.

We can all wrongly assume someone who doesn't communicate like us is someone who's unintelligent.

Also, "mentally ret*d" people tend to hate this phrase. They don't like the word "ret*d."

I hear all the time, "Oh, you are actually thoughtful." I think I don't express well what is going on inside my head, and people fill in the blanks for themselves as to why.

They only know a couple of autistics and those autistic happen to be mentally ret*d

Those people are ignorant and they watch too many Autism Speaks commercials.

Cockney rebel

That is correct

But everyone is ignorant

These people are ignorant. Not worth you time and energy. I feel sorry for them.

What is worse is that they think we are either ret*ds, savants, or both.

When I received my diagnosis aged 35 years and it contained the phrase: “Not intellectually impaired” I wanted to highlight it and underline it three million times and have it tattooed all over me

I still have days whereby I think of myself as some kind of idiot genius, but that’s been years and years of being told I was backwards, when really I was more sort of sideways I guess.

Largely though, I think people are ignorant. It’s easy to judge something they don’t understand, especially when they feel threatened...

I'll do you one better than that, schizophrenia used to be used as a "waste basket diagnosis" for everything but mental retardation. Even Autism was lumped in with schizophrenia at one point in history.

Hundreds of years ago, if you acted even slightly out of the so-called "normal persona" you were classified as demon possessed and were either burned at the stake or promptly given an exorcism.

Modern psychology is always evolving so I don't think we can really fault previous generations for misdiagnoses.

_________________
*** High Functioning Autism - Asperger's Syndrome ***

ADHD, OCD, and PTSD.

Keep calm and stim away.