Is Asperger's syndrome / autism a disability?

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I know quite a few LD, MR, physically impaired, emotionally disordered, general developmental disordered kids who posses much more abilities than I at their ages.

I find it hard to believe that someone who claims these and other groups of many different unique individuals with have less potential than those with real AS/classical autism knows all that many people with these conditions and/or understands that complexity and a spectrum doesn't just apply to AS and classical.

To those who think AS is an evolutionary step, please reconsider.

Most everyone with AS struggles to understand others because we don't process the subtle unspoken cues in real time to generate a proper response.

This is lacking a key survival skill. Even with education and training, we can't do this cognitively as well as NTs can.

In survival, picking up on subtle things and understanding the significance of it (and using it properly) can be live or death under some circumstances. Having a neurological condition that impairs this function is not an improvement in the design.

Now, if we could have all the autistic perks without any of the drawbacks, that would be another issue.

Well I am disabled by it, so it is a disability to me, yes.

yes thankyou x 2

1 for backing up my analogy

1 for the docotr who profile pic

I once read a 500 page book on a theory about prehistory called Fingerprints of the Gods out of interest. This wasn't out of character. It depends on if the nerdiness goes to good use and if you have comorbid problems among countless other factors. By this point I'd say it's a gift for me.

I see it both ways. My aspiness has been a source of pain. I am cut off from others because I don’t understand them and they don’t me. I also see things differently, sometimes have a hard time expressing myself coherently, and don’t manage multiple details very well. But, I like myself just fine and have many wonderful qualities. My dogs are also quite fond of me.

If the world offered me a spot where I could give of my attributes without worrying so much about the spoilers (my social issues and quirky ways of doing things, my intensity, etc.), I would have a lot to give. I spent half a century trying to do just this. And I know of aspies who accomplished this very thing (e.g. my bro the design engineer). However, my corner of the world is not accepting of my condition. They don’t want my strengths because they are contaminated by my “differences.”

I have tried coming out to see if people would be more accepting, but they were mostly horrified that I was such. It was a source of gossip. Maybe its because I work with people who work with people like me. We are fine as long as we are ‘them’ and not ‘us’. What I have accomplished is that I can “pass” (at least for a while). My current job is good for passing because I hop from one place to another all day and spend minimal time with anyone. But it is disheartening and exhausting.

The other side is that as we call for political correctness, people will become more tolerant. They will understand that they might have to call me away from important research to attend a meeting (but they can also appreciate my findings). It won’t happen for my life, but it could be a reality for the kiddos that I am working with.

Dis-aspie topic

I might have already contributed to this.

To recap: for any condition to be a disability, it depends on whether the condition fits in with the regular stream of events. My co-existing factors impact more on this regular stream and interfere with functioning.

Yo.

My life has not been very successful or happy (the latter has changed somewhat recently, with the acceptance of my life), but I don't think AS or autism is necessarily a disability. Autism cannot render a person inable to care for themselves by itself. It can be more difficult if you follow the standard methods of living your life, but if you follow a method unique, then you can easily be happy and successful in life, love, work, and any other areas you might want to be successful in that doesn't run counter to your natural abilities.

However, the disability comes from comorbids and other medical conditions that combine with autistic traits. These comorbids can be disabling by themselves. The other medical conditions that I mention could be anything that is not a disability by itself, but when they exist alongside an autism spectrum disorder, can seriously impact a person's life.

For quite some time, while I tried to fight who I was, who I am, I could not find happiness or success. Now, however, I follow the path that I naturally should, and I am happy. Soon I will be successful as well, but that takes time.

I am technically "disabled" in a legal sense, so I get a nice little free bus pass for all buses ready for college heh heh.
But I personally don't feel disabled, inconvenienced? yes, slightly impaired? yes, but not fully disabled because it doesn't affect my day to day life in such a way. I think whether your AS/autism disables you or not is a matter of opinion.

MJE---Well, I am glider18, and as most around here know---I view autism as a gift. However, I view it as a gift for those of us that see it as a gift. If it has wrecked your life, then obviously it is a disability for you. However, if things were to turn around for you, then it might become a difference instead. For me, it is a difference. But---I have my share of challenges in life too.

What I do is focus on the good that autism has brought into my life---the special intense interests that are fun. But, let's deal with you. Are there any good things/interests/talents that autism has given to you? If yes, then try to focus on them and hopefully they can level out the bad. If there aren't things that you see as good, then perhaps you could engage in some therapy. Actually, I have attended therapy sessions to deal with my issues---and it helped.

I wish you the best of luck in your life in dealing with AS. AS/autism is so mysterious---and it presents itself differently in each one of us. It has to be dealt with in a unique personal way. If you love having autism then great. If you don't love having autism, then you don't. No one can force you to love or hate something. All you can do is try to adapt. There is no magic cure for it. For me, I wouldn't take the cure because I love being autistic. But, I know there are people with autism that are so miserable that I couldn't deny the cure to them if they wanted it. The best we can do now is therapy in my opinion. But please realize---if you keep open minded that things can get better---then they can get better.

Food for thought: To be diagnosed as AS in the first place it has to have a severe enough negative impact on your daily functioning. If it doesn't then you're not AS, and you would not be diagnosed as such (although you still might think differently).

no it is not a 'disability'

inb4 curebies..

I agree with sunshower and Danielismyname - AS is by definition a disability.

I think some people here view a disability as some kind of awful taboo - 'oh no I'm not disabled, I'm too happy/successful/talented for that'. To be blunt, this is a silly attitude. It is perfectly possible to be all these things and still have a disability. Having a disability does not preclude you from having a good life - it just means that you need extra help in order to do so, whether it be the right medications, mobility support, assisted accommodation, certain allowances made for you at school and in the workplace, or if you can't work, income from the government. There is nothing intrinsically bad about needing these things. If you don't need things like this, chances are you don't have AS, but rather have some autistic traits (possibly residual).

I guess the word 'disability' has negative social connotations, and others are picking up on this and incorporating it into their views.

And I can understand this. It took me about 18 months from the time I was diagnosed to realise I actually had a disability. This may have been because my psychologist told me, at the diagnosis, that I should not look on AS as a disability for me. But I can't do many necessary things without help. I have massive meltdowns due to overstimulation and stress and confusion, meltdowns where I can't speak and I hurt myself because I lose the ability to communicate in any other way. They occur over everyday things, such as bright lights, conversation, proximity to others, busy places, loud places. I have difficulties with communication, socialisation, practical imagination. I can't juggle a job and self-care, I can't see friends more than once every 4-6 weeks, the list goes on. And of course there are many comorbids, such as depression (incidentally, mille, I hope you are ok. You sounded pretty low in your previous post. I've been like that before a few times - I hope it gets better for you). Do I am disabled - I need assistance in many aspects of life.

But like outlier, I would not be 'cured', because that would mean changing the way I think. I have no problem with being disabled; it's just a thing. Not good or bad.

Superior intellect as usual glider I agree completely I am quite autistic, have high anxiety, also dyslexia and dysphraxia, I agree that it is a disability and in response to belinda nobody I agree ith you there are many autistics who commit suicide because the feel inadiquite and their anxiety has took over them

Uhh... "AS is not a disability" isn't the opposite of "curebie". It's the opposite of "realistic".

Yes. There are people who are not disabled at all by AS. They are the people who cannot be diagnosed with AS. They still count as autistic in my book, since ostensibly they once were diagnosable, and still have the same cognitive style; but they're not officially diagnosable AS.

There are also people who are not significantly disabled by AS. They can get by if they put out more effort than most people, or get minor support from family, such as a husband who does the dishes when his wife can't stand to touch the dishwater. These people wouldn't be eligible for government assistance, but they still have what they call "significant impairment"--making it a diagnosable condition.

And then there are people whose disability is significant--enough to require special education, government assistance, or even some kind of live-in help. They exist. I know; I'm one of them. I don't know what proportion of Asperger's cases fall into that category, but they're quite a few.

You don't have to be in denial about AS being a disability to say you don't want a cure. In fact, not wanting a cure, either wanting no treatment at all or else wanting only treatment (like better meds that help with symptoms but don't change your brain), seems to be an attitude pretty much spread evenly over all levels of disability.

People who say "autism isn't a disability" are people who are trying to go about getting acceptance the wrong way. The public has a horribly bad stereotype of disability; so they think that by somehow convincing them that autism is not a disability, even though it cannot be diagnosed without significant impairment, they'll stop people thinking badly of autism. That's impossible, and it's not realistic. Unless you make a tiny narrow category of disability that includes only people who live worthless lives (i.e., nobody), you can't put autism outside the category of "disability" in the first place. On the other hand, if you say, "disability isn't shameful," suddenly it becomes possible to say, "Hey, wait a minute; autism may be a disability; I may be disabled; but I am not worth any less than anybody else." I am of course aware that there are those for whom autism is not a disability (people who've "lost" their diagnosis, or are part of the broader autism phenotype), or for whom it isn't a significant disability (people who have improved a lot, or started out mild)... And that makes it a true statement to say, "Not all people diagnosed autistic are still impaired," or "the autistic cognitive style does not necessarily correlate with autistic disability."

It's just plain silly to insist autism isn't a disability, though. Of course it is--just to varying degrees.

I look at my last thirty years - despite working my butt off, being right (technically) much more often than I'm not, and enhancing my own skills and abilities more or less continuously - I don't have anything to show for the effort. Except an aspergers diagnosis...

Now, maybe you want to be precious and say I'd reached my natural level or quote the Peter Principle at me, but equally viable is the argument that my life and potential have been stolen from me. Partly by not knowing about the damned condition, partly by the covert conspiracy of my fellow human beings in dismissing me as a misfit.

Looks like a disability to me.