Asperger..who uses this label still?

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It’s been ges since I was here, but so much more time I spent on social media like Instagram. There I find loads of auto(influencers?) with arguments to convince to stop using the label Asperger of high functioning..as it seems to want to stand out above the ‘low-functioning’ duties because it is polarising the community. Also I see more and more profiles that talk about ADHD and more than half of the symptoms they mention strike me as autism...what do you think of this...is this a woke influence of sorts?

The Asperger's label was taken out of the autism criteria because every autism case is sooooooooo different from one another that nobody is high-functioning or low-functioning, just autistic, nothing more, nothing less. So the boy I used to know who was non-verbal and locked in his own world in any situation is no more autistic than me, who is completely the opposite of him in every way even though I'm a spectrumer. So there are different levels but people won't admit to it...until there comes a topic where functioning levels need to be brought up. So really, they do exist in a way. Unless it depends on the context, which is usually how I look at it.

I was surprised that the label is still used here on this website...

Yes, it's all the wokes fault. Everything we don't like is because of wokes.

It couldn't possibly be that the understanding of autism has evolved over the decades, it's all just wokenistas cancelling the good Nazi doctor.

I don't use it because it wasn't what I was diagnosed with. I don't like labels in general, because they are meant to be divisive, not inclusive...than being said people are allowed to label themselves however they choose, its no one else's business.

I believe in the context of medicine labels primarily allow them to discuss a distinct set of symptoms (and often their cause) in a relatively easy manner.

Imagine trying to discuss autism (or any other medical diagnosis) only as symptoms, without a label that allows easy reference to them collectively.

That's a different context, not one that really applies to how people choose to identify themselves in society though. And I still won't ever agree with someone else who tells me I can't call my self this or that because they have designated themselves as the arbiter. I don't hold with this gatekeeping nonsense.

I 100% agree with the second clause.

With the first one, it's really both at once. The medical labelling side is because it's needed in that context.

The personal side can play out like you described, but it isn't guaranteed to.
It's fair to observe that recognizing a difference between Aspergers and other ASD flavours has the potential to create divisiveness, it's just not true that it's meant to because at it's core it's just medical labelling.

The issue has more to do with how people build identities, not with the labels themselves.

Aspergers has only been removed from the DSM, not the ICD (its F84.5) so its still a valid diagnosis. Just putting that out there.

I don’t think so...the labels is not something we create ourselves, it comes from the medical world, and we only get to choose from it. So, what a choice we have to either call ourselves Auties, Aspies, neurodivergent, or a hybrid Asperger conflated with ADHD...anything else we invent for ourselves will not get coined by the medical world, innit??

I am not a native English speaker..so I am not always familiar with the acronyms here. What is DSM and ICD.

I will also post here to you what I replied with in another topic of mine to you.

Does it not polarise and alienate ‘low-functioning duties’ from the community. High functioning in my opinion is more and more used as an excuse to the NTs to tell them that we are not ’the ret*d’ they think we are, that we have an high IQ and only have trouble in socially functioning. What does that do or say to one who is standing on the other extreme of the spectrum about us? We are the smarties, we distance ourselves from the ones who cannot function at all without the help of third parties...I have grown hostile or allergic to the label Asperger, because it is Hans Asperger who selected the autistic people whom society could still use or have them productive for the Nazi society. So, the ones that didn’t make it were sent to the gasovens...would you like to continue to have this physicians surname as a label for what you are?

I don't use it because my daughter and I weren't diagnosed with it. I'm ASD2 and she's ASD1. The doctor said neither of us would have been "Aspergers" even if the term was still in use. That being said I find true Aspergers people seem to have enough differences from HFA that the distinction seems fitting sometimes. My brother and son have never gone for diagnosis but they both seem more like Aspergers than ASD1. Maybe I'm generalising what Aspergers is, but they both have the "little professor" thing and they both talked at a relatively average age as babies. They don't seem to have as many sensory issues as I do, although I'm admittedly very extreme. I think my son is likely Aspergers + OCD. In fact I'm sure he'd be OCD but it seems more distinct than ASD routines and repetition.

The ICD is International Statistical Classification of Diseases manual. Its used to diagnose Autism and other disorders. So yes, Asperger's Syndrome is still a diagnosis, and the label is still being used so it makes sense that people are still using the term to describe what the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) now calls Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorder (autism)

It does indeed polarize and alienate people very much. I think it is human nature to want to somehow be better than someone else. People can do that with labels. I don't think it is a good thing. But I also think people should be able to call themselves what they choose. To say "no, you can't say you have Aspergers because the term is now offensive isn't fair to someone who chooses to use the term because that is their diagnosis is just nonsense however.

I think it makes sense to diagnose people with Asperger's who wasn't delayed in speech as a toddler (developed speech at the same rate as their peers) and were as articulate as their peers during childhood and onwards. Usually having these two things make it easier to communicate and learn social skills even if it's slightly delayed (other social skills, not basic social skills one learns as a toddler).

I was one who wasn't delayed in speech, and was articulate as a child. I went to mainstream school and graduated. I spent a lot of my childhood years outside playing with kids in the neighbourhood. I didn't own any stim toys or needed any routine or anything. But my ADHD caused my bad behaviour, which the only places I hid my ADHD was when I was in the classroom and around adults at other people's homes.

The only time in my life I seemed "typically autistic" was when I was aged between 11 and 15. Don't know what happened there.

I'm going with autism just because of the A in ASD. Plus, it's still an upgrade from schizoaffective and OCD when it comes to stigma. If you think autistic stereotyping is bad, the various schizo disorders are just about the worst when it comes to public perception.

I might feel a bit differently if I had been formally diagnosed under the previous criteria. Rather than getting the "you're not autistic, wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more." that I got. But as it is, it feels more comfortable to just set the goal post where it probably ought to be in the long run.

Unless I'm speaking with a medical professional, I use autism spectrum. With pros, I use that and often clarify that my official diagnosis is Asperger's. It's just what I'm used to doing, not that I need to bring autism up all that often.