ZachGoodwin wrote:
Your life is not like Helen Keller's, unless you have endured some actual blindness or deafness, but anyway, it isn't. All it is from the way I see it, is a chemical imbalance with slightly slow moter functions, and social anxiety.
Nothing less, and nothing more.
Regardless of how "special snowflake" or not "special snowflake" most autism bio's are autism is way, way, way more than social anxiety, and being a bit klutzy. The media might have convinced people that autistics are people who are just socially anxious kind of weird people who should just stop whining and try harder to be normal but that does not make it true. Just because a disability is not physical such as blindness does not make it not a disability. If a person is "just" a klutzy socially anxious person then they are not autistic
DSM Diagnostic Criteria for autismQuote:
Persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts,
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Restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities,
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Symptoms cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of current functioning.
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Hyper- or hyporeactivity to sensory input or unusual interest in sensory aspects of the environment
The above traits often cause social anxiety but social anxiety is not a core trait of Autism.
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman