Borderline autism

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I never said that they were NTs. I just said that they're practically NTs. Neurological impairments seems to be quite an ambiguous term, especially when they are mild. If the impairments are mild enough they could just as easily not be neurological. They could just be psychological or chemical instead.

I didn't know borderline intellectual disability was diagnosed but you're in Canada so that's probably why. I read online that people with borderline IQs are called slow learners and it's not considered a disability so they are not protected by the law and teachers aren't required to accommodate them so the slow learner has to work harder than everyone else to do it. But however my old high school treats it like a disability because I went out with my old teacher who was my aid and she told me about her student that is a slow learner and he likes Star Trek. No one knows what he has except that he is slow. He was still getting the help in school without a label.

Too cynical, I do not agree.

No matter where you draw the border, there will always be borderline cases.

People with borderline ASD might be more at risk of suicide attempts than people with more severe ASD, as the borderline person may have greater expectations put them them by NTs.

Absolutely agree. It's a spectrum, and there have to be people who just barely are diagnosed, just meet the subjective cutoff. And people who do not. And situations and environments in which what might otherwise be ability becomes disability, what might otherwise be disability is ability, and fluidity as situations and demands change.

I would add that IMO depression and suicide become greater risks as soon as one learns enough and crosses that line to becoming aware of not meeting expectations in a deep way and different from others. Borderline ASD but also, anyone with ASD who makes enough progress to understand and feel the rejection. And understand their unacceptability, even if not the failure to meet expectations which makes them unacceptable.

Well...whats the difference then?

Aspergers, or High Functioning Autism, means that you are on the spectrum, but high up on it. Almost NT. So wouldnt that be the same thing as "borderline autism"?

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This is brilliant.

what does borderline autism constitute? can someone offer an example or hypothetical profile?

I'm probably wrong. I know people are classified that way if their IQ falls into a certain range so I assumed it was a diagnosis. Assume makes an ass out of u and me. Maybe there is no diagnosis or services for borderline ID cases.

In my opinion, if someone has borderline symptoms of a disorder and they have serious functional impairment because of it there should be some kind of diagnosis and help.

In my case, it was a term I came up with in trying to describe what I saw in myself. Initially it was only the limited ability I have in forming relationships. Over time, especially since my therapist got the ball rolling last year, I've learned more and more things about me point in the direction of autism, but it seems I'm very borderline.

Look at this-



People who are diagnosed as Aspies might score like maybe 154 on the autism side, and since there's apparently always some overlap, they might score 48 or 50 on the NT side.

Their graphic will have an outline that looks something like a scallop shell, taking in the whole Aspie side, but in the very center jutting out maybe a bit into the NT side. (I'll see if I can find an example and then add it here later.)

You'd have to assume NT would be a mirror image of that.

Look at me.

Look at the numbers in my sig. This is insane. Like someone here said, I'm a half-pint Aspie. I'm betwixt and between.

I'd say this if nothing else, this is an example of being borderline autistic.

Do I look neurotypical to you?

Neurologically, it must be that the abnormal numbers of neurons you find in an autistic brain (and their inappropriate connections with each other) exist to a far lesser extent in me and others like me. Not neurotypical to be sure, but almost. That almost and the limitations it imposes on how my mind works and how I function is the killer. I'd have to say "still autistic". How else could it be described?

I think it's possible to have a severe disability and mild autistic traits, or to have a mild disability and severe autistic traits. In other words, the strength of the autism isn't the only factor that counts when it comes to determining the degree of the impairment.

If someone had "mild autistic traits" and had a significant impairment, I don't see that there's a reason to call it "borderline autism". Plain old "autism" will do just fine, since it's already been established that autism can be mild.

On the other hand, if someone has autistic traits but no impairment, then that's not a diagnosis and it shouldn't be. That doesn't mean I think it should stay off your psych records, necessarily; there are many things that aren't diagnoses that can be noted on your psych records, things like being adopted or being homeless. Autistic traits without impairment can look eccentric or shy or nerdy, and people like that can have an awful lot in common with diagnosable autistic people. After all, the impairment thing is mostly gauged by whether you need more help than you're expected to need, and that varies by culture.

Just like a dyslexic person isn't disabled if he's not expected to learn to read, an autistic person might not be disabled, and thus not need a diagnosis, if their autistic traits happen to be just such a combination that allows them to live without needing help, without needing accommodations, without spending more effort, and without doing things differently from NTs. But you cannot diagnose that person with autism. That's where your broader-autism-phenotype, NT-with-autistic-traits, and lost-diagnosis people come from; they're people who don't need a diagnosis, but do have the traits. With the social model of disability, it's completely possible.

Do you mean co-morbidities and environmental factors?

That, and also the sheer luck of the draw when it comes to autistic traits. If you can speak whenever you like and your social perception and general ability to take care of yourself are pretty good considering you're autistic, but you get yourself into danger when you shut down, then you can't live on your own no matter how mild your autism is compared to that guy who can't talk and spends all his time on his special interests (and, by the way, is employed and living on his own because he can do his own self-care, use a communication device, and his special interest just so happens to make him employable). And then consider environment. Put a mild Aspie in an abusive home, or refuse to get him any help, or plop him down in the middle of a flock of bullies, and he'll end up with a lot of skills that involve basic survival but very few that involve being independent. Or put an autistic kid in an environment where they learn how to be compliant, and copy whatever they're supposed to copy, and never stim, and never do anything odd, and never do anything unless they're told to do it, and boy they'll be great at living in an institution, but they'll be unable to do anything for themselves because they've had the initiative and creativity beaten out of them.

If you have mild traits that are just the wrong combination for you to be independent in the world you live in, then you won't be able to be independent. All it takes, really, is something like a bit of naivete about other people, or inability to handle your own finances, or executive dysfunction mucking up your organization and planning, or the tendency to just forget to initiate social interaction... whatever. If you get just the wrong trait, you're out of luck. And if you get just the right traits, they can get pretty severe before they require you to get a whole lot of help.

I think it depends...what exactly is borderline autism?

Absolutely. I think that even when a person does not fit a label entirely, they will still benefit from treatments and therapies. The things they experience may also warrant attention and may interfere with their functioning, even if they are uncharacteristically AS.

Personally, I am one of these people. I was given a borderline, ("tentative") diagnosis of Asperger's while young and the psychiatrist, an expert in the autism field, found it very difficult to diagnose me. Strangely, this was when I felt had very obvious ASD traits, but these traits faded, so this label probably does not fit me anymore.