Does anyone still use the word asperger/aspie?

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I use the term autistic or autie rather than aspie.

I use Aspie, or occasionally ASS-Pie (QuoteUnquote that wiki site someone posted here last week).

You mean it's NOT pronounced Assburgers

No it isn't.

The reason why it isn't, is that it splits a set of people who are (as far as actual science goes) extremely similar to each other, straight down the middle, along a line that is not useful and only based on a few biased observations. (i.e. the HF/LF dichotomy).

It perpetuates the idea that autistic people labeled high-functioning are of a completely different species than autistic people labeled low-functioning, when this is not borne out by reality. (There is more evidence for an AS/autism divide than there is for a HF/LF divide.)

And, again, it isn't actually borne out by any particular scientific evidence at all, and it perpetuates a category (PDD-NOS) that is close to utterly meaningless, and that probably shouldn't exist in the first place. And that has become the dumping ground for all autistic people who do not conform to a particular stereotype (the solution is not perpetuating the stereotype by using the PDD-NOS category, but getting rid of the stereotype).

The attitude you take with using PDD-NOS to mean an arbitrarily-defined category of "high functioning" people who really should be diagnosed with AUTISM, is really directly destructive to a lot of people: It harms people labeled low-functioning by separating us out into a particular category of our own (and then, usually, jettisonning us entirely into a nasty sort of oblivion) when this is not warranted, and it harms people labeled high-functioning by making it sound like they're not really diagnosable with autism (and for that matter, often has a real-world impact on the services they get). I experience the effects of such awful divides every day when I am routinely underestimated and my friends who can speak better than I can (but are otherwise nearly identical to me as far as autism goes) are routinely overestimated, and when we are told we belong in two totally different categories. (I know people -- labeled high-functioning -- who are even experiencing serious ill health effects because of these divisions.)

Last edited by anbuend on 14 Oct 2006, 8:11 am, edited 2 times in total.

I tend to use autistic or autie for everyone, although I'll sometimes use aspie casually if the person self-identifies that way or something.

Am I the only one that has to keep a google window open to try to figure out what people are talking about when they use all these alphabet soup abbreviations? Sometimes there's a legitimate use to specialized language and sometimes people use jargon in an attempt to sound smart.

I remember I had one professor who proudly asserted the terms "intraspecific" and "interspecific" when discussing ecological relationships. Another professor just said "within species" and "between species." One of them sounded smart and the other one sounded like he was trying to sound smart.

Some of us just love words, can't help it if we over-do it a little, I'm sure 99% of those that do would happily clarify for you, that being part of the fun...

For me at least I like to use large words, but not to show off, just playing with the language.

I've just started to say I have Autism, and if they press the issue, I say high functioning Autism. It's true--the doctor just put down Aspergers because I told him I wasn't comfortable with the term Autism. NOW I am very comfortable and accepting, so I don't use Aspergers at all. I guess I am just bizarre, but I take a bit of pride in saying "I'm Autistic."

Some of us just use the language that is common in this community. Please just ask what things mean. Better than assuming that we're all trying to look smart or some other bizarre motivation.

The misuse of PDD-NOS as "HFA" doesn't make sense to me. The former just means "meets some criteria but not enough for an autism diagnosis". Which means a person diagnosed with the former can be severly affected or not. For instance it's used in cases where the person has some autistic traits because of other medical reasons (eg brain injury). This diagnosis helps these people get services more appropriate for their specific needs (especially with school support).

I agree with anbuend about the false dichotomy and the segregation of Asperger's from the autistic community. I can tell by reading here that many are just as afflicted and some even moreso than my autistic son. I think that late diagnoses are coming up AS when they probably are really straight autism.
There might be a day when we replace AS with "autistic without speech delay".

I use Asperger's or if writing it AS I never use ASD because to me it is too broad and I dont see myself as autistic. I see myself as someone with Asperger's I realise however that there is a huge debate going on about this and some people beleive that AS should be treated the same as autism. I do not howevber I beleive those with AS have very different needs to those with classical autism.

Oops, I think I insulted some people who don't deserve to be insulted. Sorry, everybody. People who study anything in depth usually have a specialized jargon that outsiders don't readily understand, so I guess it's reasonable to expect psych fans to do the same. I guess my view of the whole thing is more as a personal experience, but not everybody is looking at these things the same as me, and that's a good thing, since my perspective is not the sum total of reality.

Especially if they're talking about a love of words. Ouch, that one left me cut and bleeding on the floor. I understand the love of words, even if I don't like acronyms.

Yes, I do the same

I say Aspie because it's faster than "person with Asperger's Syndrome"

I'm sorry, I should have made it clear - ASD is Autistic Spectrum Disorder.

Today. I had another talk with my father. I never told him I was autistic, etc.... He STILL thinks my lack of social life is a lifestyle choice, and that my lack of social ability must merely be LEARNED. Anyway, this was the second time in as many months that he referred to autism. He used it to speak of a "Possibly autistic, maybe ret*d" person who bowled a 300 game. Ironically, he said before and after that I could do well at anything I was interested in, but he was trying to convince me to go for something NEW to solve my social problems!

I am STILL wondering if I should tell him I have AS, and what he'll say. My mother was slow to realize it, and the fire alar incident last year and the fact that I have said "My senses are SKEWED" for DECADES cinched it. My father can only see my knowledge, social life, and interests, and they have been explained away by all sorts of things.

If I told him I was autistic, he would be at a loss. At least aspie or asperger is more definitive.

I've EVEN been toying with the idea of pointing my father to the wikipedia reference on Aspergers.

Steve