Disabled or different..???

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It depends on our functioning level. I am autistic but must not be disabled because I was undiagnosed for 18 or 19 years. However, if I were treated like an autistic person from early childhood, then I wouldn't be able to function this well. Learned helplessness is a thing, and not a good thing.

Stigma does not matter, @Kenya. If you're disabled, you're disabled, and you're still you just the way you are. If you're different, then you're different. I don't see a positive or negative stigma in different. It's actually kind of indifferent. If we want homogeneity, then it's an obstacle. If we want diversity, then it's a benefit. But neither homogeneity nor diversity are worth anything for their own sake.

Your roommate might have a hard time with thinking about this stuff. He might see some things as disabilities and he might well be right. (If working under fluorescent lighting is a necessity then I might as well file for disabilities and go on a pension; I am incapable of working long under them without falling asleep. To most people it's just "different" and it didn't pose me much trouble because I had the great Edison electric light & some classic kerosene lamps to see by.)

It's the function level & the individual's raising & conditioning that make autism spectrum disorder a disability or not. It's still a disorder--we just happen to be very good at finding the order in the chaos.

I don't know... if someone's so low functioning that their autism keeps them from working and they're on disability benefits for no other reason than the autism, then I can't see how it could not be considered a disability. But then there are also autistic people who work full time, live on their own/with a spouse and possible kids and can handle their fair share of work for the family both inside and outside the house. Those people don't sound too disabled to me, even if they have some social difficulties.

I myself haven't done as well in life as I would've wished by this age, but I'm also definitely disabled. I've had a physical disability since birth, which strongly effects what kind of work I can do, for examble. Because of that, I consider myself disabled and haven't given much thought to if I'd count as disabled if I only had autism... but in my case, I suppose it wouldn't count. I have troublesome sensory issues, but they aren't as major as they were when I was a child. I also have difficulties socializing, obviously, but I've managed to get a job, have some (not so close) friends and can handle every day social situations, so disabled? In my case, not so much. Then again, when I hear the word "disabled", I tend to first think of really clear cases like blind people and people in wheelchairs, then not so easily visible but still physical conditions like my own and the trouble they cause, so maybe it all depends on what autism is compared to. For me, it doesn't come across as such a serious problem since it doesn't get me bedridden, unlike the other one from time to time.

I am definitely disabled. My autism is such that I can only work a max of 15 hours a week, and have to receive benefits to supplement my low income. I have a degree, but I can't use it because the environments in which it might be used are too stressful and overwhelming, so I have to stick to menial labour that's simple and straightforward. You guys joke about parking permits (which is fine, and rather amusing) but I'm seriously considering applying for one despite not being physically disabled, because dealing with the sensory overload of walking through a parking lot can get to be too much. I order my groceries online because supermarkets are too loud, bright and busy for me to be able to manage.

In stressful situations, I lose the ability to speak, and have to use a pad to write on, otherwise I can't communicate. This has happened to me around cops and other first responders, as well as doctors and therapists.

I have severe meltdowns that come on suddenly and that I can't control. I hit, bite and scratch myself, and will fight people off if they try to touch or talk to me. I've run away and had the police called out to find me, and almost stepped into busy traffic because I was so unaware of my surroundings.

Some of these things could be solved by having more societal understanding, but some of them are just part of who I am, and would impact me regardless of how autism-friendly the world was. This is what makes me disabled and not just different.

The self-esteem weenies like calling people differently abled, and AS has some of the best in different abilities, but they come with social disability.

I’m disabled in some aspects, though never severely so.

I never got promoted in almost 40 years on my job. Though I know what I’m doing backwards and forwards.

I don’t have any “social networks.” When I’m around “regular” people, it’s glaringly obvious to me that I’m “different”. It’s not so obvious to others until I open my mouth. It’s more the content of what I say, rather than how I say it.

I’m pretty lucky. I “grew out of” most of my autism—or I adapted it to my surroundings.

I don't think I can reasonably say that I'm not disabled . No work history , very poor social network outside of family/stepfamily , needing support to maintain reasonably healthy , but rather basic , independent living .....
All those count against saying I'm not disabled

For me, if I had not hit burnout several times, I would never have thought of myself as having any issues apart from shutdowns which I didn't know the cause (Which was extremely annoying!)
But the way I currently am, I do feel I need... It feels like I need someone to pick me up and sort me out before I am ready to take on thw world again! And yes, in some aspects I may consider myself as dissabled, but in most I don't. It is very hard to work it out as with the mind.. The way I think... Well... I can't think the way other people think as I havemy brain which works as it works... And to think like anyone else thinks is impossible because I can't jump into their minds to notice any difference!

So it is actually a hard question for me to answer. All I can say is physical aspects which I have had which are a bit of a struggle... Enough to say that I plan my life in ways to avoid these struggles from taking place. Like when I have anxiety kicking in and I need to drink a lot of water or cola etc... I will always bring water or cola with me wherever I go and I have to plan my routes where I go so I have access to a toilet.
And also, I avoid getting myself into the panic of being in a shop and due to crowds of people blocking the isles, I can't get out, so I panic and this is where I can shut down... So I have to get out quick when I can't.. Well. I just don't go in unless I feel happy enough that I can avoid this situation.

I have significant autism which is significantly disabling.

The main aspect which I experience where I would class as a type of dissability are the shutdowns.
The other issues like avoiding crowded shops. I just don't go shopping and my Mum goes in instead. Problem solved.
Actually some smaller shops I have less issues with. It all depends on the design of the store. I know of one small shop which is jam packed, adn as long as I don't feel trapped by other people I am fine.
Yet a large store with tall narrow isles... Well. Those are the ones which get me. Even when they have hardly any customers... It takes one person stopping to look at something and positioning their trolley to block the isle and I am starting to panic. I don't show I panic, but internally I am panicing.

I don't think of myself as disabled, but perhaps this is because I have been able to build a life which minimises the impact of the things I struggle with most. I've also been lucky in working in an environment (a local University) which is used to people being a bit different (as lots of academics are unsual people). This comes back to the social model of disability, as people have been accommodating to me which means the things I struggle with haven't caused me as much trouble as they might have.

If you put me in a less suitable environment I think I'd feel a lot less able than I currently do.

I see my AS as more of a difference than a disability. The disability is there, it's just that it's more of a difference in my eyes. It's like being a hippie in a corporate world.

The "or" in the thread title is not how I would frame the issue. Disability resides in being discriminated against because difference, as I see it. Difference is a reality. Disability largely resides is how that reality is responded to by the dominant group (with mistreatment, ignorance, stigmatisation, roadblocks, exclusion). A cause and effect relationship much more than an "or".

I don't consider myself disabled now. There may be some things I can't really do, but I've found that that's true of all my friends as well, and I can do so many other things, (and do some things I struggle with more effectively than many normal people, because I've put so much thought and work into perfecting them) I'm about at the level of an NT person, overall. Humans are a social species, and part of that is that we all need each other to fill in the gaps that we have as individuals.