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Asperger's is entirely different from autism?

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ASPartOfMe
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17 Aug 2015, 1:13 am

Lintar wrote:
Sethno wrote:
I just had someone try to tell me that Aspie's are NOT autistic, that he's 'sick of autistics trying to associate themselves with Aspies', that neurotypical brains are closer to autistic brains than Aspie brains are. (He also seemed to think that Aspies are some sort of "superior human".)

I'm not aware of any medical/scientific facts that support his ideas, are you? Especially about brain structure?


He is right (about A.S. being different from autism, not about being superior).

http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pd ... 11-175.pdf is an article about research that seems to back this up.



That study caused quite a stir as it was released just after the DSM 5 came into effect. As far as I know no follow up studies have backed up these findings (Unfortunately because of the DSM there may not be much further study of Aspergers as separate condition or as an Autism subcategory) . As I said before the core traits are pretty much the same although the severity and possibly which symptoms are prominent might be different. Hans Asperger called it Autism. Lorna Wing who popularized the term Aspergers did it to gain recognition for the Autism Spectrum and get "high functioning" Autistics diagnosed. While some experts have sharply disagreed with the DSM 5 decision to take away the "Aspergers" diagnosis I have yet to see any claim that Aspergers is not Autism in some way.


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DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


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17 Aug 2015, 1:41 am

Callista wrote:
ASS-P wrote:
...But according to the latest DSM-V , we don't exist no more ? It is a puzzlement . :?
No, no, we still exist just fine. It's only been simplified so that it's all the same name now. If you had a diagnosis of PDD-NOS, Asperger's, Autistic Disorder, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder beforehand, they have combined those into Autism Spectrum Disorder. (Rett syndrome stayed its own category because it's due to a known genetic mutation.)

I hate the politics stuff, too, and I think we all need to stick together whether our autism is mild or severe or uncategorizable. Fact is, appearances aside, the people who need a lot of help, and the people who only need a little help, actually have a whole lot in common. The same traits appear in both groups and many of the same problems face both groups. And unity helps both because if they divide us into groups, it's divide-and-conquer with the "high functioning" people too afraid of the disability label to stand up for the rights of "low functioning" people, and the "low functioning" people being encouraged to reject the "high functioning" people as not truly needing any help at all and intruding on their "territory". When the conflict is between sub-groups like this, the people and the system that is hurting all of us tend to get away with it.


It's silly to pretend sub categories don't exist. Groups hold pride parades or just celebrations of their heritage. These groups do not let the few supremacists within their mist or outside hate groups that say they are un-american or dividing America to define what they call themselves and how they think about their sub-group. From what I see a lot of "high functioning" are anti-Judge Rotenberg center or anti ABA in general which is often if not mostly used on "low functioning". And from most of the "Aspergers" is not Autism stuff comes from non Autistics and a few supremacists not the "low functioning". So I am very much against acting in fear based on slanders.


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“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


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17 Aug 2015, 2:06 am

I do believe there is an overlap, but I do not think they are the same. I think this is part of the reason for that so-called huge spectrum. By the way, my son was diagnosed with PDD-NOS, not Asperger's, so I'm not in that group of thinking my son is an ASPIE and therefore better or similar. Interestingly enough, his best friends are Aspie's and were never diagnosed with autism and he is very high functioning today, so many claim he was misdiagnosed, who knows.

Anyway, here is something I read a while back that states that there is indeed a brain difference...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 235642.htm