How come so many people here treat AS like a race/club?

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Yes it does. The official definition of intellectual disability is an IQ of less than 70. Someone in the 70-80 range would find life difficult.

The way IQ works is they test a huge number of random people of the same chronological age. Then the results are 'standardised' ie fiddled with, so that on a Gaussian (bell) curve the average is 100 with the majority falling within 30 of either side and 5% at either end outside of these parameters.

The general population is then measured against this.

People who have an IQ in the 71-84 range are called slow learners and its not even considered a disability nor do they qualify for special ed. teachers don't even have to give them accommodations because there is no law to protect them. So they are left to struggle through life and school. I think it should be a disability and it sucks to fall through the cracks. But yet they ca still have a learning disability such as dyslexia or still have other disabilities like autism. Then they would qualify for help.

Quite right League Girl. It's like an autism diagnosis, there's that one point where they rule yes or no and people close enough to that measure to need help but not quite close enough are left to struggle.

I get caught up in the moment, and completely forget that I have a different way of thinking. As someone who does tend to systematize things, it gives me comfort to know I am not in a state of random chaos; my traits occur for a reason.

I believe that some degree of social utilitarianism is most convenient, but cannot say who is better suited between the AS and the NT. The NT is social, but the AS is utilitarian. Social people report having more difficulty acting appropriately when keeping order, for order's sake, rather than for sentimental reasons.

I have disclosed my suspected ASD to one of my supervisors. Fortunately, she has a relative with AS, so it was not a huge disaster. But my employer now wants to know about ALL my health conditions. I am not sure about this, they want written statements on what I get treated for. Unfortunately, my IBD problems stretch back into 1992 (when I got that dx) so finding anything on that will be difficult.
OK, starting to digress too much here, I must say that it went better than I had hoped for. I seriously was not going to say anthing. But I also added as an adult, they are sill working on the autism thing.
Most of the time, my challenges do not effect my work performance much, if at all. There have been a couple of situations though, where I seriously have difficulties. Usually involving crowds or noisy infants. Sensory overloads are still possible for me, even at 50.
Hopefully, in time, ASDs might not be viewed any differently than wearing glasses. But its a long stretch until that day..
SweetLeaf: You do realize your depression is influencing everything you think & feel right? Been there, done that. But some day, hopefully soo, your world may not look as dark as it seems. It does get better.

Sincerely,
Matthew

I've been admonished for not making suitable eye contact or affirming other people, in spite of exceeding quotas, by ten times, when left alone. When engaged, I completely forget what I was in the middle of doing, so would take several minutes to regain my composure.

That's such an extreme. We have it the other way round which is probably just as extreme.

In Germany, students with an IQ somewhere in that range are automatically considered special ed and put into special schools either for the "learning disabled" or schools for people with a diagnosis of mental retardation and/or with severe multiple disabilities that require 24/7 care.

It's rare for someone with such an IQ score to be accepted into regular ed (even if they worked their way up and want to graduate the lowest/easiest regular ed school form to have a chance at getting a job after school, for example) unless their IQ is unknown and/or they went under the "radar". It's not so rare that kids who happen to have their IQ tested for some reason and scored in the 85-90 range end up in special ed as well.

Actually communities do form around things like schizophrenia and cancer. Simply put, people can relate with others dealing with the same issues. When the individuals also suffer from discrimination, something cultural is likely to form. This is just an inescapable facet of human nature - it begins as soon as there is communication.

Going so far as to think of it as a race or imposing standards by which to exclude others is something that is not inescapable, but it doesn't seem to be a common problem around here to my eyes. There are a few - as there are in any group, really - but they seem to be a minority.

Agreed. My wife has schizoaffective disorder, and was on some pretty strong meds for awhile. She eventually decided to stop them, and just stay on the antidepressant, because the schizo meds would pretty much make her useless. And when you have 4 young children, there's no time to be useless. Sure, she'd stop hearing voices as much, but that's probably due to the fact that she couldn't stay awake. The antidepressant keeps her stress and anxiety down, which keeps the voices at bay.

It's not easy telling when someone is struggling over the internet sometimes, or know someone is upset, etc. Sometimes, it just seems like someone is wondering something about themselves and is looking for feedback. When someone posts such a topic, some respond with the suggestion it's better, in their opinion, to get a professional diagnosis. The professional diagnosis is just another opinion from another perspective about an individual. No one has to agree or disagree with it. The person receiving the diagnosis is not branded for life just because one professional has determined something about them.
This is what is happening on WP. People are just offering opinions. It's up to the individual to decide how much weight each opinion carries.

I agree with you. But I'd like to point out that "race" is a myth. There is more difference between me and the average person, than there is between all of the "races" of people.

The term "ethnic group" is more accurate. A different race sounds like an alien from another planet.

Maybe a sub-culture bound by common experiences, similarities, interests, thought processes. or we could just call it Autistic Fandom .. definitely not a club cuz we can't just "leave" it whenever we want.

Exactly.
"Forget this club, you guys, I'm out. Oh... right... nevermind. I'm still here..."

I used to score in the borderline range and I still qualified for special ed because of my speech problems and other things. So it was obvious through tests I had something. When I scored an 88 at age ten (which is average), I still qualified for help and the doctor who did the report said based on my other scores in other area, I am in the average or above average range so my overall IQ score was not accurate.





I recently heard of borderline autism and it's where the person has autistic characteristics but not enough to be on the spectrum but they have enough to struggle with it so they are treated like they have it. Mmmm. Why do these people get help but not slow learners?

Damn! *tosses resignation letter in the trash*