Asperger's isn't autism?

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You can not compare “high functioning” now with high functioning back then. Kanner bragged about turning away 9 out of 10 children at his clinic. Not an action of a person who viewed the spectrum as we do today.

What is in error is the common belief than Kanner saw only what we describe as the most severe cases. But Kanner and Asperger did see what would be described as low functioning today.

It was Asperger who highlighted his most “high functioning” for his Nazi bosses in 1938. Kanner as far as I have read did not pick and choose just interpreted and reported.


As far as the topic of this thread goes. I agree with what Callista posted in this thread 8 years ago
“AS and autism are two names for the same thing, with AS excluding a specific subset of it. Autism has a very wide range of effects, of course; but it's still the same entity.

There are many conditions (most, in fact) that have a wide range like this. Autism is only one of many. All kinds of conditions, including the physical and mental, have wide ranges like this. For example, cerebral palsy can be anything from mild weakness in one limb to complete lack of controllable movement. Diabetes can be something you easily handle with a sensible diet, or it can be something that requires an insulin pump and frequent hospitalizations when blood sugar gets out of control. A concussion could mean a couple of days of headaches, or it could mean death. Chicken pox could be so mild as to be mistaken for a cold and two mosquito bites, or it could kill you. The point is: Just because some autistics are more disabled than others doesn't mean that they have different things.

Plus:
AS and autism are indistinguishable in individuals with a 70+ IQ and communicative speech. There are quite a few PDD-NOS cases that would be diagnosed Asperger's, if it weren't that the IQ is too low. (IQ is an arbitrary cutoff line that doesn't make much sense, in my mind.)
Reliability for a psychologist determining whether someone's on the autism spectrum is quite good. Reliability for determining which particular ASD it is... is not much better than chance. (Except for with Rett syndrome which has a genetic test.)”

I was told when I was officially tested for autism that I had Aspergers but my Aspergers was due to Schizoid Personality Disorder instead of anything on the autism spectrum. i communicated too well verbally & seemed too intelligent to have anything on the autism spectrum. Even the so-called "experts" can be total morons.

You know, this sort of thing has been my daydream for ages, glad to see my daydream coming true Other possibilities might be OCD and OCPD (not to be confused: OCD is an anxiety disorder, OCPD is a Personality disorder). Back to reality, I am quite sure a portion of people with Asperger are currently diagnosed as "social communication disorder" because the bar for DSM 5 ASD is higher than the DSM 4 bar for Asperger. So yeah, anything is possible, particularly since there is no blood test for any of those things, so they are all quite heterogeneous.

Asperger's still has that trendiness factor. I ignore it altogether.

There is no paradox and it didn't "come out this way." There is no consensus on whether either is genetic. No test, no gene identified (although one has been suspected it has not yet been proven, and has often been excluded in individual cases).

There are only suspicions and hunches. Nobody really knows what causes any of it.

There are a lot more then suspicions and hunches. What there are suspicions and hunches is about is
1. Which genes or combinations of genes are factors that cause it or directly cause it?
2. How much is genetic and how much is environmental, what is the interaction between environment and genes in causation?
3. What environmental factors?
3. Differing causes in different autistics.

There is a proffessional consensus that there is a strong genetic component in autism causation.

The continuing uncertainty into the exact causation of autism and the disagreement as to what defines autism has led to all sorts of nonsense gaining currency under the guise of the experts don’t know so who are you to say my theory is quackary? Also we live in an era when there have been so many actual conspiracies by experts have been proven true that were that were at one time widely dismissed as tin foil hat conspiracy theories that everything every expert says is often doubted if not automatically thought of as a lie.

Until you can show me where consensus exists (a decent number of and well constructed studies would do - but there really aren't any), I'm going to have to disagree with that statement.

Genetics has been suspected due to a high number of autistics shown to have autistic family members, however genetic testing has too frequently shown that suspected genes are not always found in autistics.

No environmental causes have been proven.

The bottom line is, no cause has been proven.

While it is not scientifically possible to prove a negative, it is possible to prove a cause, if said cause actually exists.

No cause for autism has ever been proven, ergo, all posited causes are merely theories, which is just another way of saying hunch (or suspicion).

Keep in mind though, that doesn't mean there is no cause or that no cause will ever be proven. It just hasn't happened yet.

I just saw an article that mentioned someone who actually said "you have Asperger you are not autistic" (see here: https://themighty.com/2017/01/aspergers-not-autistic/ ) I know the context of that article is to say that person is wrong. But, on my end, I am just glad someone said it Fascinating!! !

I have read people saying that plenty of times. Usually as to say aspies are not autistic but spoiled brats making up excuses or are not autistic but were diagnosed because parents wanted benefits. I have read aspie supremacists saying that but from my reading, the other reasons are much more prevalent


I have a hunch(pun intended) that I disagree with you less than you think. I did write not in so many words exact causation has not been found. A hunch is my opinion that a less autistic friendly society is a factor in prevalence rates based on solely my living in both 40 years ago and now. A strong correlation between certain genes and diagnosed autistics has been found which is more than a hunch and why a professional consensus of a strong genetic component of causation exists. Look at most reputable sources and they will agree about the strong genetic component. What has not been found is what combination of genes and what if any certain environmental triggers cause it. That does not mean the professional consensus is correct after all the refrigerator mother theory was the professional consensus 55 years ago.

Last edited by ASPartOfMe on 26 Jun 2018, 6:14 pm, edited 2 times in total.

All posited causes are hypotheses not theories. A theory has a higher standard or proof. A hunch or suspicion is a step lower than a hypothesis. Just saying....

There is no one "cause" for autism.

There happen to be MANY causes for autism. Some genetic in a familial sense, some genetic in an idiopathic sense, some chromosomal, maybe even some epigenetic or environmental.

That sound you hear is the sound of a hair being split.

I had that hunch as well. I have another hunch that this conversation may be headed down the proverbial rabbit hole of semantics. A place that tends to bring out the worst in me so I will now exit to have a cup of tea with the mad hatter.

I hope you enjoyed your tea.

I have always known Asperger's is autism without significant language issues, a milder form of classic autism. Anyway, it's not used anymore, now psychiatrists only use the word autism, if they removed it from the new DSM it's because they now understand that it's not a different thing, but it's just a milder form of autism, so now it's just autistic spectrum disorder. It's a spectrum, indeed.

Whoever says Asperger's is something different doesn't know what they're talking about.

It was taken out because it was felt Aspergers was being overdiagnosed thus costing insurance companies and school districts money.

Aspergers actually being autism and Aspergers being inconsistently diagnosed while true was not the main reason, but used as convenient excuses for doing what they wanted to do anyway.

Hans Asperger's Nazi complicity was not really known either so that did not figure into it.