Do you consider AS a formal "disability"?

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As a group, those diagnosed autistic/AS have great difficulty accessing the labour market. For example, in the UK, the percentage in full-time paid employment has been estimated at 12%. The National Autistic Society's (NAS) website has information about their campaign for adults and personal accounts regarding accessibility issues across multiple domains, including such domains as employment:

NAS Research Reports

Nearly two thirds of adults report they do not have enough support to meet their needs, 61% rely on their family financially, 40% live with their parents, and at least 1/3 are experiencing mental health difficulties due to lack of support.

Considering that to obtain a diagnosis (for AS) via the DSM, for example, criteria must be fulfilled that, by definition, denote disability, this is not surprising:

The social impairments etc., "are a source of considerable disability.”

"The disturbance causes clinically significant impairments in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning."

It is especially difficult in today's job market, due to an emphasis on such things as "excellent interpersonal and communication skills" and office politics.

In certain countries, it is law that reasonable accommodations be made in the workplace for those with disabilities. In the UK, the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) defines a disabled person as someone who has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

I have been diagnosed with "mild" AS, because I am able to function with people, and can easily "pass" as an NT. Nevertheless, it is definitely a major disability for me, because my sense of smell is so distorted that I am diagnosed as allergic to fragrance (even flowers). My last employer did pretty well at accomodating me, so it usually wasn't a problem.

I feel the same way. These mental health people want to shove me into some tiny little rec room with other Asperger's teens, because they think I'll be able to bond and mix...which is completely off the mark because I'm still a person in my own right and if I don't get along with someone, I'll let them know. (Still, I'm getting pretty lonely...I'm thinking of taking them up on this offer...xD)

I don't care what labels they put on me if it means they'll stop hounding me to be part of a society I have no interest in contributing to.

But no, I don't consider my AS to be a disability. I can't speak for others though.

If AS weren't a disability, then lot of us would be able to hold down a job and wouldn't need accomodations. We wouldn't need SSI either or SSA or SSDI.

Depending on what we're talking about, I consider my AS to be an asset AND a disability. The new "catch phrase" is "differently abled".

My work history, since a decade ago that I started looking for work, has been sporadic at best. I do not think I have earned over 15k in my lifetime, total, according to the SS department. It was this fear of inability to care for myself that led me to a very bad, abusive marriage with a very cruel NT, and now, back in the home of my parents, who are more than a little grumpy to have two disabled daughters.

I am now battling to keep my daughter safe from the ex, and it is very important I openly declare my disability, and do everything I can to show I am pro-active about trying hard, working hard, to try and become a functional member of society.

I applied to DDD, and my case will be reviewed, but I am unsure, with all those who are severely disabled out there, that there will even be funding or assistance. No matter where I go in life, I find myself dependent on someone else, for care, remembering to eat, remembering to remind me I need to out and breathe fresh air and get a little sun now and then.. for those of us stuck in the "grey" area, "You don't LOOK disabled you must just be lazy", what help is there?

Sticking my head in the sand won't make who I am go away, so, what harm is there in identifying all the little quirks and foibles and shortcomings I have? A 3-4 hour workday feels like 8-10. I am exhausted by the end from social interaction. At the three month mark, it seems my fellow employees/employers decide I'm lazy, since they see I'm smart, and just being difficult, or, the pressure of the job on me mentally is so enormous, going to work becomes impossible or a suicide mission.

We won't mention the sensory issues I have.. okay, so maybe we will. Synesthesia is horrible when you're supposed to be paying attention to a customer and you're stuck staring at the patterns their voices make. Maintaining eye contact is harder than hell and awkward. People smell bad, period, I resist the urge to ask if they bathe in perfume, or pour it in mud and wallow like a pig. People have terrible fashion sense and wear the most garish, blaring colors known to mankind. Light reflects oddly off all surfaces and people especially, I see auras, though they are dimmer through my glasses, 24-7 unless consciously repressing it and forcing it to not be there. Not only this, but jobs have intuitive little things that you are "expected to know", constant changes in their patterns, things move in stores, ... would you want an employee who constantly makes you feel like you have to hold their hand and train them? But then, viola! They make an amazingly creative and stunning display for your new shipment. Are they lazy, are they faking it? Where did that creativity come from? Are they on drugs? Geeze, what's wrong with them?

On the flip side, I make amazing quilt art. Given free reign, I am extremely good, if a little unusual, with interior decorating. (I pay attention to this thing called Feng Shui, if you like rules, it's an amazing concept to run your living spaces by.) I may not be supermom, but I prioritize my time and my daughter comes first for any of her needs. I am a good mother. I have a great memory, with a finicky search engine for recall. I try hard, but I'm still just not making it in life. I am now trying college, but between college, my daughter, a part time job, and the stress of having to constantly be emotionally baragged by an ex husband who tried to kill me more than once, I am crumbling under the pressure. Getting DDD to acknowledge my disabilities so the courts don't scowl if I'm a student and NOT working, would be very, very, very welcome reprieve.

Am I disabled? Am I not? It all depends on what aspect you're asking from. Yes, and no. Most likely, more yes, than no.. but I wouldn't change me for the world. If suddenly I got full support, I wouldn't sit on my butt and do nothing (or game... grr, world of warcraft and I have a love hate relationship) ... I'd find many things to do, that are worthwhile, that DON'T earn money.

PS~ Oh, if only I were this annoyingly verbose in person.

I can see saying it's a disability for some but not others, but I disagree.

I am lucky my AS isn't severe enough to be obvious or keep me from holding a job, but I can see how AS has cost me opportunity to not just survive but thrive in a career with a future. I've had difficulty getting work just to survive, and that I managed to get by doesn't mean AS isn't a disability to me. It hinders me enough that I cannot enter into any job and be accepted (which is all that seems to matter in hiring and promotion choices).

I deserve to do more than just exist and get by....I should be able to excel based on my abilities, but when your entry is dependent on your ability to connect well with others, I am disabled in a very serious way.

Is autism a mental impairment? Yes

So it follows that autism is a disability.

Everyone who has autism is disabled to some degree.

Anyone who feels that it does not significantly hinder their life will not seek an official diagnosis, so having autism classed as a disability does not effect them in the slightest.

I'm struggling a lot with this.

There's hardly anything that I want to do, which AS categorically prevents me from doing. If there's nothing I can't do, then in what sense am I disabled?

But if I'm not disabled, then why is everything so hard?

I don't feel that my AS makes me unable to work. But it sure as heck seems to put people off from giving me a chance to do so. My best efforts have only ever resulted in short-term, part-time work for low pay. Clearly there's something that interviewers expect me to be able to do, that I can't, and I don't even know what it is.

It's incredibly frustrating.

I don't see myself as significantly disabled in anyway. I just find AS to be extremely annoying and can get in the way, but not too an extent that I feel disabled.

I don't think it's that straightforward.

For some people it might be a 'mental impairment' and for others, it might not.

I think it's important to bear in mind that in many ways, it's not a 'disability' at all, it's more of a developmental delay. There are lots of respects in which Aspies are *not* disabled, but are dis-abled, because society fails to accommodate differences, and also they are able to learn things and acquire skills, but that's not innate, as with NTs, but something that has to be actively learned, i.e. many Aspies are able to learn to read and understand facial expressions and body language and improve their social skills, but it takes a lot of learning and effort, and such Aspies are not 'disabled' at an early age in this respect, they might be disadvantaged, compared with NTs and have developmental delays, but it doesn't necessarily meant that they are unable to acquire such skills, disabled.

I object to the term "Syndrome", because it indicates that there's something wrong with you, like a disease -- Auto Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is what I think of, for example.

I am not sick. I am a healthy person with an Asperger's neurotype. Basically, I consider myself to be part of a different breed or subspecies of human being, and that has certain advantages as well as disadvantages. I compare it to discovering that one's cross-bred dog is in part Border Collie. That accounts perhaps for certain appearance traits, but it also accounts for certain high-energy and herding behaviour.

My neurotype was identified when I sought help with certain negative behaviour.

You shouldn't go and shoot firecrackers in the proximity of a Border Collie. It will drive him nuts. Other types of dogs will be startled too, but they'll relax again after a while. A Border Collie will stay crazy for days. Similarly, I need certain conditions to function optimally, and when these conditions are met, I do a better specialist job than neurotypical people would if they were to replace me.

Therefore, it is not due to disability, but due to the optimal conditions for the functioning of a specific type of productive human resource that I believe workplace changes are justified.

I work in a small company with several people who are clearly not neurotypical. This is actually coincidental, because we have no policy specifically to hire odd people -- the boss is neurotypical. We have someone with ADHD (which I have too), another with chronic depression, and an undiagnosed HFA, and all these people are accommodated in terms of changes to the working environment, because they have a contribution to make, and having them there is worthwhile. The HFA guy has been one of the most difficult, but the boss decided to make some sacrifices out of his personal conviction and not merely because of the guy's potential contribution. In the beginning he was an extremely disruptive influence on the team.

Last edited by Alphabetania on 19 May 2009, 7:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

There's a lot of contradictory information in this thread. In the DSM, It says Asperger's has to significantly impair you socially, occupationally or functionally or it isn't AS.
I definitely am significantly impaired socially and have always had specific problems in this particular area throughout my life. I wouldn' t say I have mild or severe Asperger's. I just have Asperger's. This is what Asperger's is, according to the DSM-IV.

I agree with this. I am significantly impaired by my ADHD messiness and inability to do simple administrative tasks, and my Asperger's rage.

But I do not regard my impairments to be any more dreadful than some of the impairments which come with being neurotypical, such as the genetic predisposition to do what other people do unquestioningly -- a severely harmful trait which if left unmanaged can easily lead to electing evil people as leaders, or forming a mob and committing acts of extreme violence against a rival soccer team's fans.

If I really wanted to drive the point home, I could also set my ability to concentrate for hours on certain tasks as the standard to which all people should conform, and say that because neurotypicals can't do that, they have a disability.

The world is more accepting of the neurotypical morbidity than it is of the impairments which come with having Aspergers, and therefore the workplace is usually optimised for neurotypicals.

Last edited by Alphabetania on 19 May 2009, 7:38 pm, edited 4 times in total.

I think you can have mild or severe Aspergers as it is a spectrum if you define mild and severe with how well people with AS can interact with what is a NT biased world. I would consider myself at the milder end. AS is heterogenous so there is a great variation within people who have it.

It's been proven that domestic dogs and cows have chromosomal deletions and gene mutations that one would expect to cause autism, down's syndrome and similar syndromes in a human. Your example sadly supports the complete opposite of what you were trying to say.



Couldn't agree with this more, aspergers requires a social impairment. Without that impairment you can't have aspergers. I really wish people misdiagnosed with an ASD would stop trying to belittle the difficulties i have to go through because they want to be part of a "group", but don't like the disabilities of said group.