Question if "Autism Spectrum Disorder" should be renamed

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I'm not really socially impaired as such. I'm just socially awkward.

I just think the autism label should be named with abbreviations like ADHD is. I mean, you don't call ADHD "hyperism", because that would probably attach more stigma and misunderstanding, and will make everyone with ADHD feel like they're energetic lunatics or something.

I just feel that autism doesn't make sense. I mean there are non-autistic people that have problems that make them more socially withdrawn than me, like some with depression, social phobia, PTSD, Fragile-X, Alzheimer's, etc etc. Yes, believe me, I used to care for patients with Alzheimer's and some of them were locked inside their own heads like zombies and had no clue of other people.

Actually I believe dementia is a stupid name too because "demented" is a little insulting to name a brain disease after. Or it sounds like a math theory.

That makes sense.

A lot of Neurodiversity advocates prefer “Autism Spectrum Condition”

I think I like that better.

"Autism Spectrum [fill in the blank]" is fine.

Calling it 'autism' is fine. And it IS a 'spectrum'( comes in a range of both severity, and in exact symptoms).

As far as 'condition' vs 'disorder'...I dunno.

Dandruff is a 'condition'. Even high functioning autism is far worse than dandruff.

Having a club foot might be called a 'condition'. Maybe higher end autistics are comparable to folks with a single club foot.

Make your case - if you want. Either way.

“condition” does not necessarily mean mild. “Autism is a condition that causes serious impairments”

I've seen a lot of people use ASC.

I know I'm pedantic but to me, condition implies that it could go away:


- "How's his condition, doctor?"
- "He's been upgraded from serious to fair. With oxygen he should be in good condition tomorrow."

- "The weather conditions are expected to improve by Sunday."

- "My dog was in bad condition but the vet was able to save him."


Most of us already feel like we aren't taken seriously by medical professionals, insurance, the government, etc.
I think that sugarcoating hurts the needs of millions of Autistic people who need more service and respect.

That makes sense.

Some disorders such as panic disorders are usually temporary.

Step 1 to get some sort of consensus of what Autism is and what it is not. Without that debating the right word to describe it is a waste of time. In the meantime don’t be SJW about it, live and let live.

I agree - it doesn't matter what we call it, as long as our needs are taken seriously.

As for what ASD means, I have no problem with the DSM definition.

I think it's spelled out very clearly.

That makes sense.

Although, you should have ASD diagnosis of you at least diagnostic criteria B for ASD, but if with also criteria A, you should meet at least 2 diagnostic criteria A for ASD, as not everyone with ASD will fit the exact diagnostic criteria for ASD. Some people with ASD developed social skills on time and only meet diagnostic criteria B for ASD, although diagnostic criteria A is very common in most people with ASD.

Wow, five pages; I'm posting before I read.

It should be Autism Spectrum Neurotype. I am NOT a disordered person. I don't have a disorder.

I was once thinking it should be Autism Spectrum Syndrome, but then I realized...those initials wouldn't go over too well: I have ASS!

It has to be a disorder, so you're eligible for therapy and services, not that you need to use those.

Actually you do have degrees of diabetes. Pre-diabetes is an example of a gray area, and the question "is pre-diabetes a form of diabetes" is analogous to the question "is Asperger a form of autism". I think you can get different answers depending on whom you ask.

Also you should keep in mind that the criteria for either pre-diabetes or diabetes keeps changing. It used to be that for pre-diabetes fasting glucose was supposed to be over 110. Now it is supposed to be over 100. And for diabetes the fasting glucose used to be over 140. Now it is over 125. As far as postprandial, the pre-diabetes is over 140 and full blown diabetes is over 200, but they are thinking to changing it so that full blown diabetes is over 180 rather than 200.

So if "either you have diabetes or you don't", then why would the place where you draw a line keep shifting? Clearly it shifts because the area just around that line deals with "a little bit diabetics".

But even if you talk about full blown diabetes that are far away from the line, you have degrees even then. Some diabetics just spike to 200-s after meals, while other ones spike all the way to 500-s. So the latter are certainly more diabetic than the former.

By the same token, severe autistics that can't take care of themselves are more autistic than high functioning ones.

And same logic applies here too. Just like pre-diabetics used to be regarded as normal in the past, high functioning autistics used to be regarded as normal too.

And also: even some people that are regarded as NT-s today, might have shaddow autism (that particularly applies to introverts). Similarly, some people that are regarded as non-diabetic today, might actually have even milder version of pre-diabetes (like if fasting glucose is in high 90-s, that would be a good example). So yeah, those are both spectrums.

Yeah. One can argue that some of Cluster B personality disorders along with some forms of ADHD might be a shaddow types of bipolar.



Actually there IS such a thing as Schizophrenia spectrum disorder. But no, it has nothign to do with how controlled they are with medications. This has to do with the way they are without medications. Some people, without medications, won't be fully psychotic but would have some shaddow symptoms of it.

A perfect illustration would be Schizotypal Personality Disorder. In the DSM 4 (used in the USA) it is a personality disorder but in the ICD 10 (used in Europe) it is a psychotic disorder (so they skip the word personality and just call it "schizotypal disorder") so it is officially listed as a schizophrenia spectrum as far as Europe is concerned. And even in the USA doctors probably think of it as schizophrenia spectrum too, even though its not officially listed this way.

The other two Cluster A personality disorders (Paranoid and Schizoid) are likely on schizophrenia spectrum too. I guess with Schizoid it might be more questionable: maybe some of the schizoids are on the autism spectrum instead. But at least some other schizoids are on a schizophrenia spectrum, its possible.



And, indeed, there is that spectrum: if you open DSM 4, there are many different anxiety disorders listed. For example, OCD is one of them. And social anxiety is another one. Clearly they are quite different from each other.

Again: it has nothing to do with coping strategies (just like schizophrenia spectrum has nothing to do with being controlled by meds) instead, it has to do with how severely you are affected on the first place.

But autism spectrum is not about strategies either. People with Asperger didn't miraculously learn some strategies from birth: it would have been impossible. They were simply less severely affected.



Thats different because it has to do with one single chromosome. By contrast, autism spectrum is not about one single gene. Most likely a large number of genes is involved. Thats why autism is a spectrum: since those genes are independent of each other, one can have more genes affected or less genes affected. Or some genes play more major role others are more minor.



Sure, that can be a spectrum. Any personality disorder is a spectrum. Because personality disorder is a subjective thing. What we have is personality, not personality disorder. And we all have different personalities. Then doctors decided to label some of the personalities a certain way. That label was artificial, so where the doctors decided to draw a line is pretty arbitrary. And the fact that they put a label on those people didn't make them all the same.



Again, thats different. Cancer has one specific thing that you either have or not. Just like Downs Syndrome. Just like HIV.

By contrast, everything else that was listed wasn't about one specific thing. It was about a combination of things. Thats what made it a spectrum.

But then again even with cancer or HIV you can put a spectrum in terms of stages. So you can have spectrum even then. Although its a different kind of spectrum.

We all know “Autism Spectrum Disorder” is a very imperfect name but I think we should wait until the science evolves to the point where such basic questions as what causes autism, is it multiple separate conditions etc. are answered.