New study on mild autism/ aspergers

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http://sfari.org/news-and-opinion/news/ ... -as-adults

"Contrary to popular assumption, people diagnosed with so-called mild forms of autism don’t fare any better in life than those with severe forms of the disorder. That’s the conclusion of a new study that suggests that even individuals with normal intelligence and language abilities struggle to fit into society because of their social and communication problems."

Well, what if you take someone like Jonathan, who doesn't know how to speak, doesn't have concept of numbers, doesn't have concept of other people, and can't take care of themselves. You can't say that high functioning autistics are doing "just as badly", can you?

Ignorance is bliss?

There is one very serious difficulty that comes with mild neurological problems. It is because, unlike those in a wheelchair, the blind, or someone with cerebral palsy, our condition is invisible. Because of this, we are treated just like anyone else, and some of us simply cannot handle that. Not to mention trying to explain your difficulty to an NT; they just wont get it.

My problem is the opposite: NTs see my difficulties and decide they are worse than they really are. I really don't need NT-s help, I can be treated like everyone else. But NT-s think I need help.

Here is one example. I went to a conference. Then i stayed there one day past in order to explore the city. I asked the organizers of a conference to suggest hotel for me to stay, they did. But then I took rickshaw to that hotel and rickshaw driver didn't understnad English. So I tried to communicate to him through strangers on the street, but they didn't understand English either. Then I lost patience and simply asked people in the street to call conference organizers. Now while they were making these phone calls they asked conference organizers why is "someone like that" allowed to walk on their own to begin with. And conference organizers passed similar complaint to my prof who brought me to conference telling him that I remind them of their 5 year old son. As a result, the prof was asking me a dozen times whether or nto I am sure that I can walk by myself.

Now, I am walking by myself just fine. I simply didn't htink there was anything wrong with acting upset when Indians don't understand English. In fact on my end of a line I had a great day and hten right out of the blue my professor is worried and I have no idea what is he worried about. After I tried to think for TEN MINUTES trying to REMEBER just what could have possibly went wrong, I remember that yeah there were a couple of times when I talked in quite an agressive manner and yelled at them for not knowing English. Then after thinking for ANOTHER DAY or so it also occured to me that it is not socially acceptable to ask strangers on the street to call conference organizers so perhaps they figured that it must have been some crisis or else I wouldn't have done it. But on my end of a line I got angry at them for not konwing English and that anger lasted half a minute, and half a minute later I am on my own marry way enjoying the city and no longer remembering that I was ever angry at anyone. And also, because I was tired trying to explain I asked to call conference organizers just cause I could (and I didn't think anyone would think too much of it), and half a minute later I forgot I ever did it, too. But THEY thought I have such a difficult time and need help, while to me I am just fine.

So you see it is just the opposite to what you described. I can get along just as fine as any NT. The only problem is that other NTs don't think so and falsely regard me as disabled.

I'm OK with functioning in normal society, I just need some help, probably because I lack confidence and self-esteem, and I suffer with a lot of anxiety issues which hold me back too.

I have an Autistic friend, and he lives on his own, has a part-time job, and belongs to a club where he mixes with other young people like him with disabilities - but it's still a social life. He is more confident than I am, and has a higher self-esteem. I'm not quite sure what he struggles in and what he gets anxious about because he doesn't really tell me (maybe he doesn't express his feelings to other people). I do express my feelings to other people, and so they can know how I feel about things straight away, and by doing this I think I should be all right. Sometimes expressing my feelings goes a long way.

But, if we look to the actual study (instead to the review):

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21713590



bold mine - apparently, the PDD/NOSers have less (but not much less) problems in finding a job.

Other point:



Apparently, the 2 groups did not have a big difference in IQ, than we can't extrapolate from situation comparing groups with different IQs (for example, these study is useless to see if AS or HFA has a better outcome than LFA).

Actually, yes there is. It's called "ugly tourist syndrome." Although it's generally associated with Americans, it can really come from anyone. It's when tourists travel to other countries where they know their own language or customs are not the norm and then act as if they should be. Anyone traveling to a foreign country should learn enough of the local language to speak to hotel and store clerks, taxi drivers, etc. Asking someone to call for help when you're lost is acceptable; shouting at other people for not knowing your language, when you are the one who is out of place, is not. The entire situation could have been avoided if you had simply picked up a good phrase-book for travelers before you left.

The study is not really surprising. Contrary to what some people think, PDD NOS is not 'mild autism'. It's a mixed bag of people with a wide variety of functioning levels ranging from the very mildest autistics to the most severely affected autistics and everywhere in between. I have no idea why people think you can say anything at all about PDD NOS as a group, other than stuff that applies to all autistics.

Indeed:

https://ballastexistenz.wordpress.com/2 ... lly-means/

This is my take on the study:

Mild aspergers is not very obvious compared to say someone with a more servere form of autism such as Downs syndrome. To NTs we are capable of doing everything by ourselves and we are fine.

The chance of getting support after highschool is low and limited because those with milder forms of autism because the problem isn't obvious. We still have the same problems with those with more servere forms of autism. Someone put it to me this way: NTs are born with all the skills needed for social interaction, apsies don't have all of these skills and need to be taught them. So, if people with mild aspergers were given support and taught skills needed for social interaction early in life (as mentioned in the study, early intervention is effective) we would fare better in life.

Unfortunately not all of those with mild autism/ aspergers receive help. This is the problem. We need support in the form of postive advice and more social interaction

Exactly. The median IQ of both groups is less than 70! This study pretty much tells us that the challenges presented by a severely low IQ swamps the difference in challenge between mild and moderate autism. I do not find this the least bit surprising.

I do not think that Downs Syndrome as anywhere on the autism spectrum.

Nt's are more likely to bully someone with less obvious symptoms. I never found out till 47 years old. I went from quack to quack for years, and was bullied by therapists, docters and such.

The problem for higher functioning auties is exactly this

I could have told you that. But they have to waste that research money somewhere.

Mild autistics also have more anxiety because they know when they are being bullied.
And because their disorder is invisible they are expected to just act like everyone else and again suffer from a lot of anxiety and depression when they can't meet this demand.

I hardly have any social anxiety because of my sensory issues. And when I don't have sensory issues I'm drugged up and just say whatever and don't really think about how it comes off.

I think the problem here is you didn't know how to deal with the situation.
You shouldn't assume someone to know English when that isn't the official language of the country.
The guy was just doing his job and maybe he can't afford English lessons or doesn't need to because other passengers took the initiative to learn some Indian, or yes, take along a phrase book.
To me it sounded like you struggled and even though it eventually worked out the people at the conference thought you weren't ready for it.