Page 6 of 7 [ 100 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1 ... 3, 4, 5, 6, 7  Next

kraftiekortie
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 4 Feb 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 87,510
Location: Queens, NYC

18 May 2021, 4:46 pm

You can be "high-functioning" without being Asperger's. Most definitely.

One can be a "high-functioning classic autistic person."



cyberdad
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 21 Feb 2011
Age: 56
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,146

18 May 2021, 9:15 pm

kraftiekortie wrote:
You can be "high-functioning" without being Asperger's. Most definitely.

One can be a "high-functioning classic autistic person."


Yep, my daughter is HF without necessarily being AS but my point is that HF is what professionals should be classifying newly diagnosed patients if they are keeping up with the latest medical literature.



kraftiekortie
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 4 Feb 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 87,510
Location: Queens, NYC

18 May 2021, 10:41 pm

Many still use the ICD-10.



cyberdad
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 21 Feb 2011
Age: 56
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,146

18 May 2021, 10:58 pm

kraftiekortie wrote:
Many still use the ICD-10.


But that's my point, they should be more up to date.



kraftiekortie
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 4 Feb 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 87,510
Location: Queens, NYC

19 May 2021, 12:55 pm

I'm not so sure I would want Asperger's to be sublimated totally.

I believe it is a discrete disorder, with some unique features. It is very different from "high-functioning classic autism."

I'm not an Aspergian, by the way. I am more under the "high-functioning classic autism" umbrella.



Joe90
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Feb 2010
Gender: Female
Posts: 26,492
Location: UK

19 May 2021, 3:38 pm

kraftiekortie wrote:
I'm not so sure I would want Asperger's to be sublimated totally.

I believe it is a discrete disorder, with some unique features. It is very different from "high-functioning classic autism."

I'm not an Aspergian, by the way. I am more under the "high-functioning classic autism" umbrella.


This.

I fall into the "Asperger's" category, because my symptoms are discrete and complex. I've even "lost" two of my symptoms in the last 7 years (special interests and meltdowns). I'm mild to the point where I often question my diagnosis...until I remember my teen years when I seemed a very typical autistic teen. :oops:
But otherwise I often question my diagnosis and wonder if I'm just ADHD with anxiety disorder and maybe OCD.


_________________
Female


cyberdad
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 21 Feb 2011
Age: 56
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,146

19 May 2021, 4:33 pm

Ok so this kind of exists as a discrete "unofficial" classification, well we knew that anyway.

My point remains is that medical professionals shouldn't cast aspersions (attributing characteristics to autism) when giving advice to patients.



kraftiekortie
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 4 Feb 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 87,510
Location: Queens, NYC

19 May 2021, 4:36 pm

In the ICD-10, Asperger's is still an official diagnosis. And, somewhat to your chagrin, many clinicians still use the ICD-10.



cyberdad
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 21 Feb 2011
Age: 56
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,146

19 May 2021, 4:38 pm

kraftiekortie wrote:
In the ICD-10, Asperger's is still an official diagnosis. And, somewhat to your chagrin, many clinicians still use the ICD-10.


Then its curious why the OPs GP would warn/caution about calling him autistic. The stigma is powerful form of influence,



kraftiekortie
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 4 Feb 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 87,510
Location: Queens, NYC

19 May 2021, 4:41 pm

Unfortunately, it's because there remains a severe lack of knowledge and awareness pertaining to autism.

The average person usually thinks of an "autistic" person as someone who is nonverbal, goes off to a corner to rock back and forth, spins things, and throws tantrums. Hence, the stigma.

Rain Man was called an "high-functioning" autistic in the movie, which was screened in 1988.



firemonkey
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Mar 2015
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,570
Location: Calne,England

19 May 2021, 5:46 pm

I see myself as an autistic person with moderate support needs. Pre COVID my s/dau used to take me shopping and do the packing at the checkout/or use the handheld gadget to price things as we shopped. Now she does it. I'd struggle to get around a supermarket due to chronic lower backache anyway. She comes to appointments with me, including appointments at home. She is informed by the housing association etc when there'll be appointments or work done. She does practical/technical tasks that need doing because I struggle with those.She gets my medication. My granddaughters keep my flat clean.



cyberdad
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 21 Feb 2011
Age: 56
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,146

20 May 2021, 2:39 am

kraftiekortie wrote:
Rain Man was called an "high-functioning" autistic in the movie, which was screened in 1988.


I'm wondering because when the movie Rain Man was filmed in the mid 1980s (prior to its release) the general trend was to institutionalise people with "visible" autism whereas the higher functioning folks would try and pass as "normal" in those days as they were missed for diagnosis?

My mother worked in the disability sector in the 1970s and back then (at least in Australia) parents were encouraged to institutionalise their children if they couldn't fit into school.



Joe90
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Feb 2010
Gender: Female
Posts: 26,492
Location: UK

20 May 2021, 2:48 am

I used to work at a care home for able-bodied people with dementia, and on a training course I learnt that a person's cognitive functioning is usually based on how well that person can make decisions. It was pretty interesting.
Making decisions can be anything, even subconsciously. Even something as simple as the way you sit on a couch is making a decision (whether you want to lounge or sit upright or whatever). What you're doing right now (other than reading this post) is a decision, even if you are doing something you're forced to do, like being at work. But even if you are at work you still made a decision to visit WP and go to this thread and read this post (those who are reading this BTW).

But it's also about conscious decisions too. Some autistic people are unable to decide which groceries they need or how or when to clean their house, so they require support with these everyday tasks.
I am able to make my own decisions without needing support, I can subconsciously and consciously make any decision an average NT (with no mental illnesses) can make. So that's why I consider myself a high-functioning Aspie.


_________________
Female


cyberdad
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 21 Feb 2011
Age: 56
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,146

20 May 2021, 2:53 am

Joe90 wrote:
I used to work at a care home for able-bodied people with dementia, and on a training course I learnt that a person's cognitive functioning is usually based on how well that person can make decisions. It was pretty interesting.
Making decisions can be anything, even subconsciously. Even something as simple as the way you sit on a couch is making a decision (whether you want to lounge or sit upright or whatever). What you're doing right now (other than reading this post) is a decision, even if you are doing something you're forced to do, like being at work. But even if you are at work you still made a decision to visit WP and go to this thread and read this post (those who are reading this BTW).

But it's also about conscious decisions too. Some autistic people are unable to decide which groceries they need or how or when to clean their house, so they require support with these everyday tasks.
I am able to make my own decisions without needing support, I can subconsciously and consciously make any decision an average NT (with no mental illnesses) can make. So that's why I consider myself a high-functioning Aspie.


Interesting perspective, thanks. That makes sense because one of the drivers of intellectual impairment is poor executive function.



firemonkey
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Mar 2015
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,570
Location: Calne,England

20 May 2021, 4:32 am

The 'how or when to clean the house' rings a very loud bell. When living in Essex, and not near any support, I went into complete avoidant mode over it. The result? My place was a tip.It would get a cleaning blitz when my s/dau visited every 6 months or so. The whole multi-step/sequential thinking aspect of it completely overwhelmed me.



simonthesly74
Blue Jay
Blue Jay

Joined: 13 Jun 2020
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Posts: 88
Location: Michigan

20 May 2021, 5:48 pm

Asperger’s was my diagnosis.

If I’m talking to someone who I assume does not have much knowledge on how the autism spectrum works, I usually tell them that I have Asperger’s. This is because the stereotype associated with this label definitely suits me better than the stereotypical “autistic” person, what with me being quite high-functioning and not having sensory issues.

However as an Aspie I am still an autistic person by definition. All Aspies are autists, but not all autists are Aspies.