The end of Asperger's draws near

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New York Times op/ed on the diagnosis of Asperger's being merged with plain old autism

People will still refer to high functioning autism as aspergers. Just like they say Hepatitis B is Jaundice even though we now know that is just a symptom.

For that matter, most people would still refer to DID as MPD, and how long ago did THAT change? Less so with bipolar vs manic depression, I guess.. but lots of people would still say that, too.

Aw.. I thought this was going to say they found a cure.

<insert argument here about whether or not AS is something that needs to be cured>

Personally I usually end up referring to AS as Autism anyway when dealing with people as more of them seem to have heard of Autism.

Thanks, but I don't believe I want my personality cured, impaired though it is. I'm afraid that might make me an even bigger @ssh*le than I already am.

I can't decide whether the change in dropping the AS designation and merging it with HFA is a good idea or not, though I generally describe myself as simply 'autistic' rather than utter the dreaded phrase ASS BURGERS, anyway.

In a way, I really don't like the idea of calling it something other than Autism. It makes people think that if it's somehow milder or less severe, then its not really a handicap. And that's a pant load.

We've known about this for ages; I guess the New York Times piece just made it more commonly known? Anyway, yeah, it's a good thing. Autism and Asperger's are similar enough to be essentially identical. Claiming Asperger's isn't autism is kind of like randomly claiming that numbers divisible by seven aren't numbers at all, but something completely different, because they have a trait that no other number has...

I have to disagree with the other posts here (except for the first one).

I don't like it. To me it looks like a costcutting exercise. We're in the grip of a recession and this will almost certainly be used as an excuse by the Treasury not to fund diagnoses for people on the more high-functioning end of the spectrum at all (hence no public health services, no access to specialist employment agencies etc.)

Last edited by Locustman on 11 Nov 2009, 9:28 am, edited 1 time in total.

Asperger's was coined by Hans Asperger, who discovered it to be simlar, but no the same as regular Autism, therefor a diagnosis of regular Autism in someone with Aspergers would be a wrong diagnosis.

I kind of see that as a good thing, actually. I have Asperger's, but the word "Asperger's" is so inelegant. I personally prefer the term "autism." It's a little easier to role off the tongue, anyway. Besides, I hate things named after people's last names. Thank God we don't have "Kanner's syndrome" or something like that.

As I have posted in forums elsewhere,

"An Aspie I was diagnosed, an Aspie I shall remain. At least in name."

Actually.. I've never heard that.
If they do merge everything, the terms will probably change within a generation or two.

There is, it's called a Lobotomy.

I will be happy to see (and hear) the word "Asperger's" go. If it were called by another name, I might be a bit more sentimental. I have a strong aversion to the name "Asperger's". It sounds so ridiculous it's almost an embarrassment or joke to say I have it.
Besides, I have done research of my own and I have discovered something of interest. People exhibiting LFA in their youth can grow into the traits that people with AS exhibit in their youth and present what looks like AS in adulthood and people diagnosed AS in youth can grow into not exhibiting AS at all when older (you can't distinguish them from NTs). So, it wouldn't be entirely inaccurate, based on my research, to say that AS is, indeed, very much a part of the autistic spectrum and that it is possible, in some cases (not all), people actually do grow out of their traits (depending on how severe they were during childhood).
Saying "mildly autistic at times" is more accurate. My autism isn't consistant, anyway. Sometimes I appear much more NT than I do autistic and vice versa.

Not if they're two names for the same thing--or, more specifically, if one is clearly a sub-set of the other.

Actually, most Aspies are also diagnosable with classic autism; only they aren't being diagnosed that way because doctors follow the stereotypes instead of the diagnostic criteria when they pick which one to put on the person's record (they won't diagnose you classic autistic if you spoke on time and have a normal IQ, even if, strictly, you should be).

You're saying, basically, "We're oranges; oranges and fruit are two different things; therefore, calling us fruit would be incorrect." Normal autism easily subsumes most cases of Asperger's. There are so many people with PDD-NOS that it's clear that there's more to autism than just kanner and asperger; so many people don't fall clearly into one or the other category that they make up half or more of the spectrum. The categories are so useless that most people with a pervasive developmental disorder fall outside them! With this diagnostic mix-up, it makes a lot more sense to just call it all autism.

it will be a sad day for aspies if this happens. especially those who are currently undiagnosed. who knows if they will meet the HFA criteria. and what about undiagnosed kids with AS? they don't have the language delay, but the criteria for HFA says there must be a language delay, will this be altered at least? or will they miss out on a diagnosis and therefore help? i would rather them keep AS on the ASD spectrum then have it be removed altogether...it's going to make things hard for many people.