Is autism really a disorder?

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Why do people think autism is a disorder? I know that autism is cause the rewiring of the brain. And it makes life difficult for people autism. I believe if people with autism died and go to heaven then they would no longer have autism. Why do people with autism say that is part of who they are as a person. Is topic never going to stop, or one day will people change there believes about autism. I hope one that there will be treatments that take away some of problems of autism.

To me autism is a pain in butt. Because it is hard for me to do what I want to do.

To me autism is a pain in butt. Because it is hard for me to do what I want to do.

Autism is a false construct. It's a series of interlinked phenotypes, some of which can be proerly called speech or social disorders and some of which can be called rewiring of the brain. If there's one common factor of autism it's that autistics seem to have a stronger commonality with each other than they do said NT's, despite NT ideas about deficit this and coping skill that.

According to the DSM, any psychological (behaviors, beliefs, ideas) abnormality is a disorder if it meets 1 or both of the criteria below.

1. The individual suffers from his/her own abnormal behavior, belief or ideas
2. Others who interact with the individual suffer his/her abnormal behavior, belief, ideas.

If a person's abnormality does not meet the criteria, it is just esentricity

I guess you can say, for some yes, autism is a disorder, yet for others, no it is not,

Also abnormal behaviors/beliefs/ideas that are part of a religious belief is not a disorder.

Jojo

In its extreme manifestations autism is a disorder. The person with such a condition is unable to support himself.

In its less extreme manifestation (as in Asperger's Syndrome) it is a social inconvenience but can be an occupational advantage in some cases. About 20 percent of the people in the computer and software trades are Aspies, a much higher proportion than in the general population.

ruveyn

[Moved from News and Current Events to General Autism Discussion]

"Mental disorder or mental illness are terms used to refer to a psychological or physiological pattern that occurs in an individual and is usually associated with distress or disability that is not expected as part of normal development or culture."

http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/defi ... order.html

It is a disorder by definition, because those actually have it, usually experience the above. It's that simple.

And those that don't? Bully for them. I don't know how anyone can actually have Autism and live as if they have no problems at all. I suppose there may be rare cases, and for them it's not a problem. But it that's the case, I don't understand what use the label is for them.

I see my autism as a part of who I am. It's shaped 37 years of experiences, personality traits, interests and emotions for me. It makes up a big part of my personality. I don't mean in a Rain Man way. I mean in the way that everybody on WP knows me today. If you take away my autism, you take all that away from me. I would also have to learn everything all over again, because it would be like having a new brain. I do as I do, because I am what I am. To change me would be a rejection to me. I'd rather stay on the spectrum, than become what the majority of the world population wants me to be.

GAH!

Not this again.

Instead of parsing words, wouldn't it be more productive to just do whatever you need to do to make your life better?

These endless arguments over minutia really irk me.

While I'm not ashamed that I have Aspergers, I'm not one of those Aspies who pretends like there's nothing wrong with it at all. Aspergers has caused some problems for me since I was a child like giving me unbarably high anxiety attacks and obsessive compulsive habbits and making friendships and relationships with my family very difficult. The one good thing I can say about having Aspergers is that maybe having it helped me to be more accepting of people who are different because my whole life I was a social outcast, but Aspergers has never made me feel like I was better or more special than everyone else just for having it. Maybe because unlike most Aspies I wasn't blessed with the genuis-level intelligence or artistic creativity that they seem to think comes from being Autistic.

Curing autism won't change your personalty, it will change how your brain works. Why do people say that autism is part of their personalty?

For example when John Elder went through tms treatment. His social kills improve greatly and he still had his asperger's