Pervasive? Disorder? Really?!

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I can't imagine it being too effective to let some kid know that he has a pervasive development disorder.....it's basically telling someone that all their difficulties, all their insecurities are because they're broken in some way..... come up with a new name for godsakes.....

I like the name. Pervasive means it affects all of your life; developmental means you have atypical development; disorder refers to the significant impairment you deal with when you have one.

What I'd like to change is the implication that having a disorder must mean you are broken; that having a disability makes your life worse than other people's; that if you are autistic you are not as good as normal. That's what I want to change. A name like "pervasive developmental disorder" doesn't bother me at all.

I dunno.....I see where you guys are coming from, but....something in my gut doesn't like it. The word pervasive sounds like something that is unwanted and aggressive, and disorder suggests something that is out of order......I know it's not supposed to sound negative, and if you understand it that's cool, maybe I would rather be called "eccentric" than anything else.

Sounds better than "He's Autistic.." to me. That really meant basketcase in my youth, or Deaf DUMB Blind. Probably ret*d..
Pervasive Developmental Disorder? Sounds almost harmless in comparison!

Sincerely,
Matthew

It could be worse, PDD doesn't really imply anything. Borderline personality disorder is an example of something badly named.


Jason

Pervasive in the ways outlined.

All true statements......perhaps you guys have changed my mind a bit. I still like the idea of lessening the gap between someone diagnosed and a "normal" person. If a diagnosis made someone feel even more isolated, I suppose that isn't the fault of the name of the diagnosis. On a personal level, I've decided not to tell anyone but close friends and family, and never disclose it at a job. BUT, I'm not thinking of all the degrees of severity, people have it rougher than I do.

My son was recently diagnosed with PDD-NOS. The PDD part doesn't bother me so much as the NOS (Not Otherwise Specified). It is too vague-sounding. I really need specifics to be able to grasp something like this.

I think "pervasive developmental disorder" fits the bill for the reasons Callista stated. What I'm getting annoyed with is how there's this growing idea that ASDs are "a difference, not a disorder." While I'm very anti-cure for ANY neuropsych disorder and am all for celebrating neurodiversity, ASDs most certainly are a disorder. They cause problems in functioning and problems in the very important realm of socialization, simple as that. We with ASDs don't process stimuli the way we should. We don't merely process stimuli differently. We process stimuli in a way that is not advantageous, evolutionarily speaking.