Aspergers VS Autism

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My assessor stated that the distinction between Asperger's Syndrome and High-Functioning Autism (my diagnosis) is that those with AS do not have speech development delays.

In terms of IQ, I read an average to above average IQ is typical for those with either AS or HFA. A very small percentage will be intellectually gifted.

Even though people with knowledge of Asperger's seem to believe I am somewhat of a classic case, I actually would not have fit under the DSM-IV's definition of Asperger's--because I had a severe speech delay (i.e., no talking until age 5 1/2).

I was actually diagnosed with "regular" (Kanner's) autism when I was about 3 years old.

Asperger's, Kanner Autism, and ex-PDD-NOS are all within the "autism spectrum." The DSM-V acknowledges this--though, obviously, the DSM-V is not perfect.

Is it really Autism or brain damage?

I was diagnosed with autism at about age 3---"brain damage" about a year later.

It seems to me that for the purposes of living life, the conditions we call Aspergers and Autism have a lot of commonalities. After some initial bias, I have found the autism label to be more useful. I'm still hoping to learn from how people deal with life and this is a bigger similar pool. If someone who is non-verbal can teach me how to handle light stimulation better, I'm all for it. The spectrum is multi-dimensional - it's not just about impairment or "function."

Brain researchers will be more interested in timing and details about a spectrum of impairments, and they will come up with more labels. There's lots of responses, outcomes, genes, etc. Someday we may have better sub-labels, for what they are worth, but it's still pretty fuzzy even to the "experts" now.

I was told by experts that Aspergers is a type of personality that is sometimes caused by autism.

That´s a new one....
Aspergers does seem to be connected to a certain mindset.....

The difficulty with the Asperger's/Autism issue is that the two labels are so inconsistently and arbitrarily applied. For instance, if you are assessed as an adolescent or adult, you have to rely on your parents' memories of your developmental history - for instance, they might fail to remember/not have noticed if you had a language delay, resulting in an AS instead of autism diagnosis. There is also the issue that what the AS criteria state as the cutoff for defining language delay (e.g. "single words before age 2") is itself a language delay, as single words tend to appear around the first birthday in typically-developing children).

I suspect there's also an element of stereotyping involved. I think it's quite common for people to have very rigid conceptions of what is meant by "autism" and "Asperger's Syndrome", and so clinicians might think they are doing someone a "kindness" by diagnosing them with AS rather than autism. I've encountered this at university: my uni has a decent support structure but it's ALL specified as "for students with Asperger's Syndrome", which really worried me as I have been diagnosed with autism instead (fortunately my disability advisor has reassured me it won't be a problem).

It is often said that people with Asperger's have relative strengths in the verbal realm.

It is often said that people with HFA have relative strengths in the visual-spatial realm.

Here's the irony: I'm decent with words--but I was a VERY late talker!

I always score much better in verbal tasks than visual-spatial tasks--yet, I wouldn't have EVER been diagnosed with Asperger's because of my language delay.

Hmm. My strengths are in both verbal and visual-spatial areas,- but I suck at math (difficulty reading numbers).
What does that make me?
I´m being called a typical aspie.

Asperger have language delay..

One purpose of "nosology" (naming disorders) is to guide treatment, but another is to drive research. I expect the big pool of autism subtypes will eventually lead to better understanding of what is going on in those patients' brains, and ultimately to improving their lives. But I have a feeling this is going to take more than 5 years, closer to 15 years.