Asperger’s History of Over-Diagnosis {NY Times op-ed}

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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/01/opini ... ers&st=cse

Really ? ? ?

I think we're about 1 out of 100 people. Which means we can find fellow Aspies, but it does take some doing.



I have actually found it helpful. I am currently self-diagnosed and am comfortable being self-diagnosed. And what Asperger's Syndrome gives me is a conceptual whole that explains a lot of my life. And it explains what I've long suspected, that the things that cause me problems are also the very things which contribute to my good parts. And plus, it tells me that I potential have a tribe of other people also on the spectrum.

And I stand in solidarity with my less communicative brothers and sisters. That needs to be said.

And amazing. For seemingly such a small thing, the amount of social nonacceptance there often is.



Okay, this is probably a good distinction. So, why don't we develop a variety of skill teaching for interpersonal skills, and stay a little loosey goosey which particular skill teaching for which particular child. For afterall, we all are individuals.

And same for teaching language and communication. And let's supplement verbal teaching with typing on a laptop keyboard (laptaps usually don't have potential sensory-overload causing flicking lights). And we can also see how well sign language works out. Some kids and adults may take to sign language like a duck to water. For other kids or adults, it may not be their preferred method.

And mainstreaming kids is generally a good thing for most kids, whether on the spectrum or not, as long as we avoid being rigid and dogmatic about it. So, some kids might need just a little bit of help. Other kids might need a mix of special ed and regular classes, that kind of thing.


This is just flat-out prejudice.

People on the Asperger's-Autism Spectrum often do very well in jobs and professions where the social situation is a little more structured and the conversational topics are expected or rather present themselves.

People on the spectrum can and do work as doctors, business people, politicians, and almost certainly in a number of other fields as well.

When we are excluded because "normal" is defined unnecessarily narrow, not only do we miss out, larger society also misses out because we have a lot to contribute.

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And as a sidenote, I think it's fine to "out" people who are no longer living. With people who are alive today, I think we need to be a little more careful and generally take the approach, 'A creative individual who generally marches to his own drummer, he or she might be on the Asperger's-Autism Spectrum, or might not, and either way is perfectly fine.'

Drivel.

Right from the start of the article the guy sounds like he's gotten his entire impression of AS from internet forums.

Go read a book or two about it and get to know some real Aspies. That's what I'd tell him. I couldn't stomach reading past the third paragraph.

And the amazing thing is, reading at the bottom of this article, this clown is a psychiatrist!

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These days, I am more and more thinking of the Asperger's-Autism Spectrum in terms of a Civil Rights Movement. So, good-hearted professionals (which may or may not include the above psychiatrist!) can help out, but they can't run the show. For example, if we have a self-help and self-advocacy organization with a board of directors of nine members, I'd like to see six of those members be adults on the spectrum, and the other three could be professionals or parents.

And for adults who are self-diagnosed, that's tough. I don't really have a ready answer. And this affects me personally, because I am self-diagnosed.

This is perhaps the most serious part of the article.

No one should be relegated to awful institutions. This includes persons on the spectrum who can't speak fluently. This includes persons who are mentally ret*d. This include persons who face the challenge of schizophrenia. And it doesn't matter if we call it a state "school" or not. If it's an awful institution, we need to make some damn changes.

This is a civil rights issue, this is a humanitarian issue, this is a political issue, a spiritual issue, and a whole lot more.

To the extent possible, people who are different should be given multiple openings and opportunities to interact with larger society.

Thank you

How many people are diagnosed by social disabilities alone? None that I've come across yet. Surely everyone who is pre- and self diagnosed knows that that is only one small factor.

Hadn't made it down that far. Well that makes little difference to me. Right after you brought that to my attention, at first I was thinking, "Hey, maybe this guy just doesn't want to see every Tom, Dick and Harry who's read a blog to be diagnosed," and I agree to an extent with that.

But, what on earth is a Psychiatrist doing spending THAT much of an article pointing out all those pop theories about celebrities that supposedly have AS? Why is this guy focused so much on that? Is this really the stuff of most local therapy clinic's water-cooler talk? Sounds more like he's citing stuff he's seen on forums like this. It's one thing for us to speculate on things like that but for a Psychiatrist to be taking it that seriously seems ridiculous. I find it hard to believe that the field as a whole takes that kind of stuff seriously.

I read the article.... got all about it. Then went back and found this again, and decided to share, but I honestly don't trust myself to make too many comments about it--if I could even find a place to BEGIN to comment I could just go on and ON, it makes me so mad.

But you know I can't help it, so here goes....

Say someone spends a heckavalotta $$$$$$ and gets the diagnosis as an adult, not a child, not looking for a bigger piece of the tax dollars alloted to school kids, but spends their OWN money and gets a diagnosis--then they get to a shrink like this one., who talks them out of it, and sends them the bill.... Or suppose they DO get a diagnosis, then the DSM changes the rules. Would they have to surrender their precious diagnosis, when it's revoked? WTF????? just exactly how DOES that work? What, pray tell me, WHAT is the incentive to "finally find out" if the supposed 'experts' haven't any idea? may as well take your $$$$$$$ and throw it out the window as you drive down the freeway for all the good it's done. O. M. G.

>>see, it's not good to get me started<<

And then... there's that ^^^^

And more:

How about the ones that think like this guy, refuse to hand it out when it's really needed at a young age, then rethink their attitude, see the same person again years later, and then DO diagnose them? Got paid both times! And wasted three years of my kids life with people treating him as if he didn't have it. Any idea how badly that screws with an Aspie kid's head?

Yeah. True story. My kid.

I mean, I'm glad the guy changed his views, but can the taxpayers please have a refund for the first go around, when he was so clearly dead wrong? And how about my son? We can't roll back the clock and fix the damgage that resulted from HIS screw up.

What we ALL need is better education and training of professionals who deal with Autism. There should be certification programs for it. No certification, you don't get to diagnose. Printing this crap doesn't do a DAMNED thing to improve anything at all. All rants like his do is get more people on the bandwagon of the "Asperger Syndrome isn't real" campaign.

Asperger's over diagnosed?

I believe it.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. There's quite a bit of evidence that aggressively mainstreaming deaf kids (at least, before they're old enough to read and write) is actively harmful to their self-esteem and academic progress. Especially if they live in a small town with limited resources & end up getting put in a class for "slower" kids.

A similar argument could probably be made for Aspies. In fact, it could probably be argued that Aspies (at least, the brightest ones) have been given our own classes since at least the 1970s anyway -- it's called "Gifted". In retrospect, it's *inconceivable* that any of my male gifted classmates could have possibly been non-Aspie. Literally, inconceivable and unfathomable. Up until high school (when most classes were sorted into kids of comparable intelligence anyway), I hated my "mixed" classes with a passion (a sentiment that was totally shared by my male gifted classmates). In our mixed classes, we got picked on, teased, and (occasionally) beaten up.

Remembering my miserable years in school, I can totally relate to what dr01dguy said. The last 3 years of school were a complete waste of time. I spent all my time trying to be invisible, and learning nothing except avoidance.


Even as an adult, how does it help one's self esteem, when the shrink basically says to you

"Oh, yes indeed, you ARE definitly screwed-up, no doubt about that, but let's see.... hmm... there's just too many Aspies lately, the quota is closed on that one, so where should I put you.... oh, "too wierd to be normal, but not wierd enough to waste taxpayer dollars on", looks like we need a new category since PDD-NOS has become a political liability....

----and the shrink is thinking "and maybe they'll name it after ME"

It seems to me we're all on pretty much the same page.

@ AardvarkGoodSwimmer

There should be an article on people who made it thru the "system" without being diagnosed. The assumption that Aspies can't do certain jobs is just not true. My dad was a State Trooper for 21yrs, retired, became a one man tour company, served on the board of directors for an airport, was involved with drafting for a NLF team etc, etc. and he was absolutely aspie !
...myself also, I sat in the back of algebra for 2yrs reading Hot Rod and Car Craft magazines.<and never got below a 95%. They finally put me in advanced science and math class's but then I switched schools to a little hick school. I did well in the army, and excelled in my former job(untill I got sick) In hindsight I stepped on a;ot of toes ! !! A union shop with an engineering dept. made up mostly of people with only a drafting degree. And I couldn't keep my big mouth shut whenever I saw something "dumb". I think I scared people there to a degree.

its funny you use this term, I've always thought of myself as a jester

In my experience, I would not have even been diagnosed unless I took the initiative to get a diagnosis. My teachers, peers, even parents, didn't "label" me or anything. But my significant problems in life could only be explained, and helped, through having a diagnosis. Over-diagnosed? I think not. If people were as aware of ASD ten years ago as they are now, I think my life would've been much better. All I needed was an intervention from a teacher, parent, or relative.

This article makes me so mad, especially as a woman with aspergers who was diagnosed as an adult. I was overlooked as the smart, but quiet girl, which is socially acceptable. But aspergers isn't?!?!?

Lol I thought Aspergers was the last name of the guy who discovered Aspergers syndrome, not something we call ourselves.......now I have to read the article to see how stupid it is.