IT'S OFFICIAL: No More Aspergers

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I am fine with this shift. I do not believe that the dropping of AS as a diagnosis means anything particularly bad for people who are or would be diagnosed with AS under DSM-IV.

its not an illness any more than neurotypicalism is an illness. Our brains are structured differently, not inferiorly.

You dont say that amputees have an 'illness' or that people with downs syndrome have an 'illness'.

Don't worry I was diagnosed with both HFA and Aspergers.

They want to lessen the amount of diagnosed children to save the government money with their medical care. It'll be interesting if the only way one would be diagnosed with autism is if they resembled Rain Man.

I've googled.. but can't find it.

Where is the new criteria?

I did when I was a young child so I guess I'm safe.

I am very open to the idea of Asperger's-Autism Spectrum as a Civil Rights issue. Yes, it's about the right to be different, it's about the right to be authentically ourselves.

And good-hearted professionals can help out, but they can't run the show.

As one specific, we can advocate for the idea that children, and adults, be given the opportunity to learn sign language and/or typing on a laptop keyboard (no flickering light). This won't help all kids, but it will be a significant help to some.

This whole thing is stupid, we need specific categories in order to better specify an individual's needs, because "autism" encompasses a ridiculous number of traits and severities, and to just use one label to cover the entire spectrum is going to cause a lot of complications. Not to mention the stigma attached: if all us Aspies have to go around now saying "I'm autistic" rather than "I have Asperger's" it's going to make the people we interact with think of only the low-functioning individuals, so they'll treat us like we're stupid even more that they already do. I think this thing is a stupid waste of time and a big encumbrance for us.

If you had been keeping up with the DSM-5 criteria for ASD, you would have seen that the diagnosis employs a dimensional factor that is supposed to help identify each individual person's needs.

Also, people treated me as if I were stupid before I had any diagnosis at all. Whether I call myself autistic or say I have Asperger's, that doesn't seem likely to change.

Truly... but what I am getting diagnosed for is Asperger's that is what they told me last Wednesday....

I had 2 neuro-scientists working for the national science foundation to study my hearing in 1984, argue left and right that I had aspergers.
I never fit into the autism spectrum therefore never received help in school.

In 94 they finally made it a diagnosis, way too late for me.

But now we are trying to get help for my son and they take it away again.

Seems to me with all of the confusion that doctors make between HFA and AS they needed to define it better not merge them.
I do not fit HFA criteria I fit AS are they re defining HFA??? and if so what will it say???

They should remove ADD and ADHD because those are traits or symptoms not a diagnosis. These are perfect things for teachers to label you with and request further evaluation.
It's like calling tuberculosis and the common cold a cough instead, we wouldn't do that because it would be stupid.
THIS MOVE ONLY HELPS INSURANCE COMPANIES! as if they paid anyway.

Autism Spectrum Disorder
Must meet criteria A, B, C, and D:

A. Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across contexts, not accounted for by general developmental delays, and manifest by all 3 of the following:
1. Deficits in social-emotional reciprocity; ranging from abnormal social approach and failure of normal back and forth conversation through reduced sharing of interests, emotions, and affect and response to total lack of initiation of social interaction,
2. Deficits in nonverbal communicative behaviors used for social interaction; ranging from poorly integrated- verbal and nonverbal communication, through abnormalities in eye contact and body-language, or deficits in understanding and use of nonverbal communication, to total lack of facial expression or gestures.
3. Deficits in developing and maintaining relationships, appropriate to developmental level (beyond those with caregivers); ranging from difficulties adjusting behavior to suit different social contexts through difficulties in sharing imaginative play and in making friends to an apparent absence of interest in people

B. Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities as manifested by at least two of the following:
1. Stereotyped or repetitive speech, motor movements, or use of objects; (such as simple motor stereotypies, echolalia, repetitive use of objects, or idiosyncratic phrases).
2. Excessive adherence to routines, ritualized patterns of verbal or nonverbal behavior, or excessive resistance to change; (such as motoric rituals, insistence on same route or food, repetitive questioning or extreme distress at small changes).
3. Highly restricted, fixated interests that are abnormal in intensity or focus; (such as strong attachment to or preoccupation with unusual objects, excessively circumscribed or perseverative interests).
4. Hyper-or hypo-reactivity to sensory input or unusual interest in sensory aspects of environment; (such as apparent indifference to pain/heat/cold, adverse response to specific sounds or textures, excessive smelling or touching of objects, fascination with lights or spinning objects).

C. Symptoms must be present in early childhood (but may not become fully manifest until social demands exceed limited capacities)

D. Symptoms together limit and impair everyday functioning.

........................................


I still fit ALL of this criteria. I am not losing my diagnoses.

Teachers can't diagnose you and ADHD is not simply "traits." It is a serious neurological disorder that causes significant impairment for people who have it. You seem extremely uninformed on this topic, and it might help to do some research instead of making blatantly false assertions such as the above.

Also, many of people who are diagnosed with AS meet the criteria for autism. The new criteria for autism (not identical to the old criteria) should cover most people who were diagnosed with AS.

As a potential political slogan, I like this!

"We are all high functioning."

"We are all middle functioning."

"We are all low functioning."

Okay, we have patchy skills, good in some areas, not so good in others. Everyone human being on Earth probably has patchy skills. Ours might just be quite a bit more patchy than average, and that's perfectly okay.

And if it turns out that I'm brain damaged in some regards and the plasticity of the brain has compensated in other ways, so be it. I'm still a human being. I still want people to focus on what I can do, rather than what I can't.

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As far as Autism Spectrum as a Civil Rights issue, the UK might be about three years ahead of where we are in the U.S.

Oh no!....now people AS will be labeled as being on the autism spectrum, its the end of the world clearly.

NOOooooooooooooooooooooooooo

*vanishes in a puff of logic*

Well, personally it doesn't affect me much because I keep my AS to myself, and I know what I am and a change of name won't affect it. But I wonder about the implications to people out there, around here, who do use their AS diagnosis.