Is Aspergers a disorder or is it simply a difference

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I believe by definition it is a disorder, however it is also a difference.

From a neurotypical perspective autism would be a disorder because neurotypicals follow instructions using common sense rather than logic.

Depends how youtake it, but I´d say ´s a difference (in processing informations), rather than a disorder.

What kind of disorder would that be?

Being gay means that you cannot love the opposite sex – but you have no desire to do so.
Being left-handed means that you cannot write with your right hand (and a couple of other things) – which is no problem if you can write with your left hand.

Having Asperger's often means that you have significant troubles coping with social situations and other basic things in life. And this is not (only) due to discrimination, but because you lack skills like reading body language and understanding and showing emotions. Some people can compensate for that with their intelligence, but it's still not equivalent.

Thus, Asperger's is a disorder, while being gay or left-handed is not.

Who decides what is "equivalent?" Are you implying that reading body language and showing emotions is more important than raw intellect? Some people might respectfully disagree...

This. 1000 times this.

Asperger's doesn't imply high intelligence, and there are intelligent people who are good at socializing.

Definition of DISORDER
1: to disturb the order of
2: to disturb the regular or normal functions of

now all you need to do is define "normal"...
As far as I am concerned, I am normal. It is the Neurotypical community that are weird to me. I don't understand them at all. So by my definition, it is the neurotypical community that is disturbing my normal function. They are the disorder

OK, so that might be taking it a bit far, but you get my point... who is to decide what is normal? By my definition of "normal", I am perfectly fine. I have never known anything different, and despite the fact that I might have some issues getting along with the "normal" crowd, by my definition, all I am is different than they are. If anyone is disturbing my regular function, by definition, it is they that are disordered.

Aspergers does relate to high intellect but no that is not a sufficient condition for it.

Most studies of AS people average around 122 IQ which is higher than average in any country.

The way I see it, I'm waiting for NT's to catch up and I want an apology when they do. lol

I think that this is a technicality that depends on the individual with AS. For some it's a disorder, for others it's a difference, and for some it's a little bit of both. The wide variety of answers seems to confirm this, in my opinion.

There are also deaf people who claim that hearing is a disorder – I think they are wrong.

I'm not sure if I would sacrifice any intelligence for gaining social skills; but if they were offered to me for free, I wouldn't hesitate to take them.
I think "NT communication behavior" is something useful, and there is a reason why evolution has created it.

This is not what I said or meant. Of course not all Aspies are highly intelligent, but that was not my point. I was trying to ask you what you thought was most important based on the information you gave in your previous post. Please go back and read my previous post again, and try not to put words in my mouth.

You also completely ignored my question on who or what defines "equivalent."

Who has ever said that hearing is a disorder? Source for this? I'm sorry, but it seems like you are trying to grasp on to any straw you possibly can here.

Interesting, your views on evolution. Do you also feel that there is a "reason" why evolution "created" the Autistic mind? If we are so "flawed," why hasn't natural selection eliminated us yet? Why are autistics increasing in number? How is it that two otherwise NT people, with no Autistic genes going back generations, can still produce autistic children?

Aspie is the next step and he knows it

If you think about it emotional functioning was favored by evolution at a much simpler time. Today the issues are complex and require much more analysis that what people feel about something.

Thats the way I look at it

I don't know if it is "the next step," because I do not think that evolution has a goal in mind. It's just a process of beings trying to adapt as best they can to a given environment. However, I do agree with you that society has changed a great deal since the hunter-gatherer days. So much has happened to human life, just in the past 100 years alone. The biggest problem seems to be that our biology simply has not been able to evolve and keep up with the tremendous social and cultural revolutions that have completely changed how we live. Darwinian evolution is simply too slow!

Personally, I think they are equally important.
But if we take the current definition(s) of Asperger's Syndrome, it's characterized as the lack of certain social skills (and a couple of other things), not by high intelligence.

If we found a gene that triggers Asperger's Syndrome and increases intelligence at the same time, one might argue if having that gene is a disorder. But in all diagnosis criteria that I know about, Asperger's Syndrome is considered a disorder by the wording of the definition itself.

I'm not sure if arguing about this is worthwhile, because it seems like we are talking about different things.


The current practice (I know that at least Attwood handles it that way) is: If you have autistic traits but they don't have any negative impact on your life, you don't get the "Asperger's" diagnosis. So it's basically up to the diagnostician to decide what is equivalent.


http://jme.bmj.com/content/28/5/283.full
Sorry, I'm taking back the term "disorder", and I also dissociate from the homophobic quotation at the end of this article.

My point is: Neither being autistic nor being deaf should be considered an advantage. In both cases, it primarily means the lack of an ability.


For the same reason that fertile people can produce infertile descendants.
Maybe societies with a certain percentage of Aspies even have an evolutionary advantage, but I think it's obvious that Aspies have a disadvantage when it comes to sexual reproduction.


Better awareness? Better diagnosis?