Do you consider autism a disability?

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I'm sure this has been done before, but well the community changes over time so I'm asking the current members.

For me the answer is yes. There may be some benefits to autism, but on balance they are outweighed by the deficits.

I consider it a disability as it affects my ability to do things in many areas of my life, but I don't see it as being a bad thing. It's a disability because it makes life challenging and I need accommodations, but it isn't in my mind a defect or something gone wrong.

While autism in some ways makes my life very difficult in the NT world, I'll say "No."

If I were blind, for example, I think I would wish I could see. If I had no legs, I'd wish I had them. If I became deaf, I'd regret that. But I've never wished I were NT. Even when I was a very small child, long before a diagnosis for HFA even existed, I knew I was very different from other kids. But I never wanted to be like them--to me, they were the weird ones whose thinking and behavior didn't make sense.

So for me, aside from the various pluses and minuses, that's the distinction. A disability, at the most basic level, is something you'd change if you could. Autism is something I wouldn't.

If you ask me, In some ways yes, in some ways no. There are definitely many things that being autistic makes more difficult (socializing, executive functioning, sensory stuff, etc.), but also many things that it gives me that I would never want to change. I don't think I would ever want to be NT though.

For some, autism is a disability; for others, it's an inconvenience; for still others, it's just something they have to deal with, like color blindness or tone deafness.

If a person can't work and/or needs constant care, then autism is definitely a disability.

NO! No no no no no I do not see autism as a disability. However, before I go on, I must mention that I am 26 and have yet to have a real diagnosis. (I'm working on it, though.) I am also 100% sure that I have ASD. I am severely paranoid that many people do not want to admit that they can tell something is off about me because they (much like myself, previously) think that autism is not a good thing to be and they're just being nice or socially acceptable. I'm also on the way way lower side of the spectrum, and I'm kinda NT-passing. Most people don't like to stir up negative emotions in others, unless they're into politics, lol. Anyway, my opinion is based on my personal experience is what I'm really trying to get at.
I cannot go through life being depressed. I cannot go through life with the mindset that life is unfair and that I'm at a disadvantage. I grew up poor and very envious of others who were privileged with having both parents and a real home to live in and the ability to have or own or buy anything they so pleased. I also grew up trapped in my own bubble of a mind while everyone else made connections with others rather easily. In school - all of school, not JUST elementary or middle or high school - a new kid would enter my class, and they'd be more well liked by everyone within a day, whereas no one ever accepted me over the course of...well...hell, they still think I'm a crazy lunatic and they'd mercilessly ignore me and honestly, I don't know why I am part of my old class's email group. I am the laughing stock to this day. And I don't care. Because in the end, they have a very limited perception, and I feel like their lives lack what I have which is a gift.
Yes, that's right, I think autism is a gift. It is a gift to appreciate the small pleasures of life. To step back from this money-driven, cutthroat society and tune into nature. Or art or music or smells or any kind of stimulation that us autistic people so crave. I think most people are unable to stay focused on anything without their Ritalin or their Adderall. I was prescribed some off-brand Ritalin myself and I was never able to afford the stuff, so thankfully, I didn't fall into that trap. But holy s**t, all of my coworkers (I'm a waitress currently) get so f*****g distracted with their phones and each other, and it seems that I am able to zone in on whatever I'm doing. My memory sucks, so I still end up forgetting things and making mistakes, but despite having ADD, I have the ability to hyper-focus on the task at hand. Almost everyone I work with shovel supplements and pills and powders into their mouths to stay awake and motivated, and then there's me who gets high off of human contact alone. So yeah, autism is a beautiful gift.
I have a feeling that those who find autism to be a disability have not yet found their special talent or are unaware that they have a purpose in life. I used to have such low self esteem and thought that I didn't deserve to live because I can't be a productive member to society. And then once I got out in the world I realized...that I HATE SOCIETY!
I do not think that autism is a disease at all. The world is just rigged to accommodate soul-less money-driven individuals (aka NTs) who just work work work to fuel the evil that runs this world. If everyone would just put down their phones and stop comparing their lives to others via social media, we'd recognize that there are so many different ways to exist in this world. (I do not think all NTs are vapid, shallow, and bad. I just find them to be sensory-impaired.)
Being extra sensitive is a gift. The world would be a dismal, bleak, gray mass of ugly corporate emotionless zombies if there weren't a different kind of people who refuse to abide by rules that were made for one very specific type of person. I could honestly write a whole novel on this. Thanks to anyone who read this whole thing.

And one more thing. If I didn't have autism then I'd never become obsessed with ferrets the way I am today. I'd probably just spend my money on makeup and fashionable clothes and expensive tech gadgets so I'd fit in with everyone else.

Yes because most people on the spectrum say we couldn't run an all-autistic people society. If autism were just a 'difference' then we all would be just as capable as NTs to run a society, in a different but still functional way. But as most autistics feel that a society ran by autistics for autistics will be impossible, then that proves that autism is a disability.

Hell yes

Hmm..I think by definition.. possibly yes? As we are "abnormal" in relation to NTs who are the majority, and since the majority dictate the values of society (for the most part), we all struggle more or less due to being on the spectrum. But as with all struggles, it has the potential to also be a strength.

I personally work in the creative field and I believe that a lot of my creativity is due to my being on the spectrum. Plus creative NTs often even appreciate the "quirks" of an AS individual. So the extent to which autism negatively impacts One's life really depends on the individual and their circumstance.
Bottom line is I have reasons to be grateful for it, despite it having it's drawbacks.

edit: I kinda failed to consider those for whom it seriously impacts their lives; ability to live by themselves etc. For those people I imagine it definitely is a disability.

A bit like some others, I consider Asperger a liability in some ways & a blessing in others.

I don't like the social isolation too much, but I do like the dot-joining mental abilities.

I would say that autism ENTAILS disability but is not, itself, a disability.

To me, a "disability" is a specific thing you can't do. For example, being blind means you can't see. Being deaf means you can't hear.

But how would you fill in the blank in the sentence "Being autistic means you can't _________"? There's no one-size-fits-all answer to that question.

Furthermore, for some (though not all) of us, being autistic entails abilities as well as disabilities.

I have another look at autism, I prefer to say about "aucorigia" (my neologism from "autocontrast" and "originality", it is broader term that ASD and includes for example things called nonverbal learning disorder (NVLD, NLD) and social communication disorder (SCD)) than just about autism spectrum disorder. ASD level 1 is a disability, because it is described as "requiring support", but subclinical autism spectrum (level 0), which in my opinion is also autism (and certainly is a sort of "aucorigia"), may be not considered a disability because it is not named as requiring support. I read about a woman with ASD who has Asperger's but psychiatrist said that she is not a person with disability. So very high-functioning autism appears to be too mild to make a person disabled. If autism, aucorigia is destructive in occupational area, it is obviously a disability.

Do you consider autism a disability?


I consider my autism and comorbids a disability , so does the government.


I don't even mind if someone calls it a mental illness , makes no difference to me what you call it.

I honestly think so, although despite the difficulties I have with stress and severe anxiety, I try not to let the issues affect me and in the current state I am somewhat happy with myself having this, although it was really different in the past...