When people say Asperger's is a 'mental health' problem...

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Scientific deviation from the norm is only part of the picture. Scientifically, a person with 160 IQ is abnormal. Socially, that person's abnormality is "good" while a person with a 40 IQ has a "bad" abnormality. Deviations from the norm are often categorized in this way. A sprinter running 100 meters under 10 seconds is rare, and scientifically abnormal. But we give such a person a gold medal at the Olympics. Someone that can't run (also "abnormal") gets nothing.

It is not the scientific judgments that cause problems for those that deviate from the norm, it is the unscientific judgments.

I don't consider autism to be a mental health problem. This suggests that all people who are on the autism spectrum are mentally unhealthy. On the contrary, I'm fairly confident that my mental health is in better condition than that of your average individual. I'm also fairly confident that my sensory issues are not psychological.

I don't consider AS to be a mental health issue, well not for me. I have a mental health issue now, severe anxiety and panic attacks, before I developed this I was perfectly mentally healthy. Yeah I've always had the traits of AS to put up with, but that's just the kind of brain I have. And for an AS brain it was totally fine, no additional disorders or ailments. Now there is one, and I can tell now that I am no where near mentally healthy.

By not psychological, you mean not psychosomatic, correct?

I still think this is splitting hairs. What makes something a mental health issue in your schema?

My opinion is that autism (the autism spectrum) is not a mental health disorder. IMO autism is a difference. We must look at what autism has contributed to the world. Without autism many of the inventions, computer advances, and technological advances would fail to have materialized. Autism can create a narrow focus beam into special intense interests that allows for new inventions, discoveries, talents, etc. As with any brain type (autistic or NT) there will be challenges and obstacles. That is a part of life. The world needs autistics as much as it needs the NTs. That is my opinion.

I definitely don't consider Aspergers to be a mental health problem or disorder . However, I think aspects of it can cause mental health problems . There are a lot of eccentrics out there who aren't labelled with mental health problems , just a bit odd - and I think its the same with Aspergers. There are more plus sides to being Aspie than not impo.

However, my Panic disorder is definitely a mental health problem. Maybe because it's episodic, it's not part of me and I haven't always had it. It makes me feel terrible and when I'm cured ,and in remission I look back and realise that I have been ill, even though I may not have realised at the time. Like depression.

Whereas Aspergers is part of me. Actually...not part of me - Aspergers is me. Aspergers can't be cured and I'm certain I wouldn't want to be because it certainly has it's benefits. Aspergers is part of my being just as much as the fact that I was born with brown hair. You can change the colour but underneath it's always brown.. I think that's how I differentiate between aspergers and mental illness.

Agreed. On the other hand, having a very high IQ can get you into all kinds of problems socially - nobody else can understand you.

In these lights, having a very high IQ can also be a mental health problem.

That's also says more about society than having a high IQ.

One outside point of view :

http://www.paulcooijmans.com/asperger/a ... rized.html

This a great way of looking at AS and things associated with it. Though I have been officially diagnosed with AS, I haven't been with OCD---but I do have OCD in my opinion. I tend to count things obsessively. I have to check doors and electrical appliances a certain number of times to assure myself they are locked or turned off. Earlier this week I was driving to work when although I knew I had checked the front door, I couldn't remember the double checking ritual---so I had to turn around and check it the double time. Fortunately I was only a mile from home. But something like OCD can be very challenging. But it has saved the house too like when my wife forgets to unplug the curling iron. Before I leave the house in the morning I check th bath tub faucet, fridge door, lights, doors, etc. But it can be tiresome.

I think your thoughts on Aspergers is wonderful...a great way of viewing it.

There are two separate issues here. One is a scientific/clinical definition of a variant form. Autism is DEFINITELY a variant from statistical norms in both behavior and underlying neurology.Deciding whether or not it is a mental health issue is irrelevant in this context. It is what it is.

Socially, too much effort is applied to avoiding terminology that is stigmatizing and too much effort given to finding politically correct descriptions that generate the least amount of offense. This also strikes me as irrelevant. Such verbal gymnastics fail to recognize that autism is sufficiently at variance with the vast majority of the population that it has a very high probability of creating life challenges that inhibit an individual's success. Depending on the degree of variance, some of those challenges are insurmountable.

Additionally, you do not have Asperger's or autism unless you are displaying adaptation difficulties in your life. You cannot be diagnosed unless you presenting symptoms. By DEFINITION, Asperger's and autism requires psychological distress of some kind to be present. No distress? No problems to be diagnosed.

I'm a realist. I see little value in developing feel good verbiage that avoids negative cultural associations especially when this, ironically, is nothing more than participating in the same culturally driven subjective conversations that generate the negative connotations it would seek to avoid. I want to know myself, my limitations, my strengths and how to navigate the world around me. Arguing over terminology does not change what I need to learn, what I need to do, or what I actually am.

Just say, "it isn't a mental health problem, it's a neurological disorder."

Because that's what it is.

I had never heard of "somatic fixation" until just now reading a doctor's recent assessment of me:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12593884

??

I admit I have challenges, but I focus on the positives---and to me that is the key to unlocking the gifts of autism. Just because Asperger's is a minority doesn't make it a disorder in my opinion---it is a difference. Red hair is a minority as well (that often comes with a skin type that is easier sunburned (but blond hair people are often easier sunburned too)---but we don't call this a disorder---we call it a difference.

The problem is that the world is generally more intolerant to brain types different than the majority. The problem with Asperger's tends to be with the general population not accepting differences in the manner in which they should.

Asperger's/autism is needed in the world. Without it, many of our scientific advances would not have been realized. I hardly can call Asperger's/autism a disorder if it has contributed so much to the world.

Every brain type has its challenges---even the NT---but we don't call them a disorder because they are the majority.

Interesting is to think about a world where 99% of the population was autistic, and 1% was NT. In this world, NT would be considered a disorder by many of the population because these people seem not to focus intently on special intense interests. And there are more traits that could be used here too, but I think it makes my point.

I have challenges in social interaction (the reading of cues, etc.), sensory issues, etc. etc. etc., but I gladly accept those challenges because of what autism has done for me---my talents that came from the special intense interests that came from my autism.

Genetic variation IS the norm in all species and the source of evolution. Asperger's is not a chemical imbalance, as despression is. If AS is strongly associated with genetics as studies suggest, I'm prone to consider it a normal variation in the species. Some may be at more of a disadvantage than others and while I appreciate the phychiatric community's attempts to 'help', it would go alot further if all this talk of 'normal' and 'typical' was transformed into something more accepting. While the autism support community may understand that Asperger's is just a personality difference, their 'normal' terminologies are, for the layperson, interpretted much more negatively.

Are we different - hell yeah. If it was such a negative, evolution and natural selection would have found a way to weed it out of the gene pool by now. Just because 'they' see it as a disadvantage, and science can't explain why the trait persists, doesn't mean it doesn't have a crucial function in society.

I think I preferred just being considered eccentric. People didn't discriminate as obviously then... they acknowledged you were weird and moved on with it.

If my father and grandfather did not have AS I'm a flying goldfish-pig hybrid that farts rainbows and cries candyfloss. Neither of them had problems with their jobs. No one gave a crap if they smiled at their colleagues/neighbors or made a lot of small talk, just that they were good at their jobs and reasonably polite. Which they were, very much so. As far as anyone was concerned they were just somewhat shy introverted men with a stubborn streak who knew their stuff, kept to themselves and did their jobs well.

While I agree that "mental" issues are less tolerated, it isn't as straight forward as that. The organization of human culture emanates from the minds of the people in that culture and when the predominant cognitive processes are what we call NT, then the predominant social and cultural paradigms will be organized around NT cognition. Autistic cognition does NOT fit that organizational structure. It's not like a red headed individual can't wear hats that a blond can wear. It more like a cone head can't wear human hats. The differences in an autistic experience of reality are sufficiently at variance to that of the NT experience that we will ALWAYS be at the margins. An NT will never experience reality in the same manner as an autistic. And given their 99 to 1 ration in numbers, they will ALWAYS organize human culture around NT cognition. It will always be incumbent on autistics to adapt. The best we can hope for is enough tolerance that our adaptations are viewed positively. But the will always be adaptations, and we will always experience reality differently.
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This is a self serving assertion that actually perpetuates stereotypes. You would have to prove (as in scientifically prove) that a particular contribution to society could have been derived if and only if the mind performing the derivation was autistic. There is nothing to suggest that the contributions of someone on the spectrum could not have also been accomplished by an NT via different means. To suggest autism is REQUIRED for the advancement of humanity is vastly overstating the case.



How would such a world even be viable? What is the distribution of functionality among ASDs? Would a society where half or more of the population can't work survive? Highly successful aspies are a minority of those on the spectrum. Your 1% transformed into the %99 would still have the same distribution of capabilities as currently seen in the 1% autistic population. We would be bottom heavy with people that need extra attention and care.


Again, I am a realist. I want my RIGHTS. My rights are the same as any other human. But this will always be an NT world. It will always be dominated by the cognitive map of the NT minds that fill it. I cannot change that and wishing it to be otherwise is a waste of my mental energy.