AUTISM AND MENTAL RETARDATION ARE DIFFERENT!

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I've heard of autism referred to as "social retardation" before. But it's not the same thing as the general delays you get with MR, which tend to be about equal across the board, while autism tends to have skills at all sorts of different levels, with some ahead and some behind your personal average. That's why it's easier to predict how MR will affect somebody by looking at the IQ, because it is more likely that the IQ will roughly reflect the general skill level. With autism, it's not that easy.

My functional IQ is now around 80. When I was young it was much lower and most teachers pegged me as being ret*d. At one time I was diagnosed as having Borderline Intelectual Functioning, a form of mild retardation that encompasses IQ ranges of 50-75, roughly 6th grade level. Ironically I am still at around 6th grade level but now diagnosed as autistic. Many professionals are making MR diagnosis for individuals with IQ's up to 85 now and in some respects mildly ret*d people function much better than auties or even aspies who have more social problems. I think it's just the sting of the words ret*d or moron that bother me. I know I have certain functional differences and I personally don't care what the official diagnoses are.

Basically they are different. No need to argue