An Interesting Point to Make

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This is something I've always wondered...

It's debatable whether people with AS are ret*d or not. I believe we are in some ways, at least in an NT-ruled world. But if we all lived in an Aspie-ruled world, I think they'd be just as ret*d in our world.

PDD stands for Pervasive Developmental Disorder.
So it is not so much a delay as a different development.

I hate it when people use the word ret*d but do not specify.

Any 'developmental' or 'learning' disorder ret*ds development or learning, so AS is a form of retardation. Certain functions of the brain cease to develop at a particular level and remain immature for life, therefore technically the word is correctly applicable.

But not in the schoolyard slang sense of 'ret*d' as meaning stupid, which is an inaccurate, therefore 'stupid' use of the word. You never see a clothing label that says: "THIS FABRIC IS FLAME STUPIDANT."

maybe if they didnt call it disorder or syndrome no one would mind

No, mental retardation refers to having an IQ of under 70.

I don't think either "yes" or "no" would be an appropriate answer for this question. Depending upon circumstances, either may be correct. It doesn't seem like autism is the sole determining factor when explaining a person's overall level of intelligence.

If ret*d means "slow", then in certain situations(like when socializing), a person with an autistic brain will be likely to react more slowly and not necessarily appropriately compared to a person with a neurotypical brain. Yes, autistic people would probably be relatively ret*d in those situations.

But the same person who had great difficulty in those situations might react more quickly and much more appropriately than a person with a neurotypical brain would in certain other systems, like when trying to understand a system. In those situations, relative to an autistic person, a neurotypical person could be considered ret*d, but the neurotypical neurotype is the predominate neurotype and so said neurotypical person's reactions would be considered "average" and not "ret*d".

And "neurotypical people" and "autistic people" are not respective homogenous populations. There is diversity in intelligence between individual members of each of the two respective populations. At a particular task, an autistic person may be considered "ret*d" and another may be considered "average" or even "above average", in the same way that a neurotypical person may be considered "ret*d" in one situation, while another may be "average" or "above average".

We're socially ret*d and emotionally.

It's a social disability: when they say that only seven percent of communication is in the words, they're right. For them.

We only get the seven percent. And, a lot of the time, the confusion engendered by the gaps overwhelms us to the point that we don't even get that. Disabled? I'll say I am.