I dislike being compared to Autism.

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I know some people are going to tell me I'm wrong but I have always viewed Asperger's an Autism as two different (albeit similar) things, and I think I will always view them that way.

The reason I say this is, when children are born and developing, the two "conditions" (no other word I can think of to describe them) have different characteristics. The best one I can think of at the moment is the delay of speaking. And I have also heard that Asperger's children generally want to socialize, but not quite sure how to...while as the autistics have no interest. (Or at least show no signs of it) But then again, this was from a Youtube video, so I'm not sure. And this is only my own speculation but I think the people that are savants lean toward autism instead of Asperger's.

There must be other things that make them different, I know they are...I have heard of them. But I can't think of them. Please add your own differences you have discovered as I need help on this.

On a side note I view High-Functioning Asperger's and High-Functioning Autism as two different things as well. And I have always view myself as "Very Neruotypical-Like".

I dislike being compared to humans (considering most are idiots), but what can you do about it?

I do agree with you on this, but I hope this thread doesn't end up in world war 3 because there seems to be some people here that think all ASDs are the same and that there is no difference between mild Asperger's and severe Autism, and that they are just because everybody is different.

The way I see it, everything's a spectrum; colours, weather, viruses, everything you can categorize comes as a spectrum. Well, nearly everything, I haven't got time to think of all the things that are harder to think of as a spectrum, but just think of something like rain and snow for example. On the rain/snow spectrum, it begins as fine drizzle of rain, and at the end is a blizzard of snow, and you obviously get inbetween weathers, and then you can get mixed too, like rain and snow together. They usually call this sleet. But rain isn't the same as snow. There's a lot less disruption with rain as there is snow, unless it's extremely heavy, causing extreme floods and overflowing drains. But it's still different to snow. Snow falls everywhere, causing disruption everywhere if it's falling really heavily and settling really fast. But on some roads, no matter how hard the rain is falling and the floods are rising, some roads (especially roads on higher hills) are safe to drive. But in snowy/icy conditions, they will also be dangerous. See the difference?

Anyway, that's the way I see it. Probably doesn't make a lot of sense. But I am one of the ''dunce'' Aspies, so don't make me too bad for it by making it sound like I have just wrote something wrong, for those of you who want to argue against it.

I think one problem is the tendency to see each other as being equal when in reality we're all unique and different, with aspies and the autistic being some of the most unique and different of all.

I know one autistic kid well who defies commonly accepted descriptions. He is low functioning. He volunteers shelving library books for me, and I believe he is working at the extent of his abilities to do so. But he is more sociable and outgoing than I am. He is very obviously autistic, but waves and says "hi" to everybody, and is very pleasant to be around. When he is done shelving his books he likes to hide and send and receive text messages. He is always immaculately dressed, and usually with a tie--by his choice according to his parents.

I've never met another aspie face-to-face--at least one who would admit to it. But from chatting with the people at WP, I sense the same is true for aspies.

While I don't mean to dismiss the importance of establishing patterns and developing taxonomies, what I'm getting at is that there is a lot of variation in ASD. I think we are best served with reading both anecdotal and scientific findings, internalizing what is beneficial for us personally, and not worrying too much about taxonomic formalities. Our essence--who we are--should always be more important than the terms used to describe us. So, if somebody wishes to refer to me as autistic, or anything else for that matter, I won't take it more seriously that it deserves. I am who I am, and names of any kind aren't going to change that.

Last edited by Thelibrarian on 16 Jun 2013, 12:25 pm, edited 2 times in total.

YoungAtHeart, I don't feel that your post explains the title of the thread. You have stated an opinion that there are differences but you have not said why you dislike this comparison.

Yes, I agree here. The existence of differences between individuals does not mean that there need to be two separate categories. For example, two of my fellow students both have cerebral palsy. One walks with a slight limp and has a speech impediment; the other uses a power chair and a communication device. They have the same diagnosis, because their physical disabilities have a similar cause and are of a similar nature. The difference between them is primarily a matter of how obvious and severe their symptoms are. It is in fact more common than not for a single diagnosis to encompass many different expressions of a disorder. Pneumonia can mean a week watching TV in bed, or it can be fatal. Depression can be someone who feels tired and worthless but drags themselves to work, or it can mean someone who cannot bring themselves to speak or leave their bed.

Asperger's is a type of autism. In adulthood, those diagnosed with classic autism are often indistinguishable from those diagnosed with Asperger's. Even when you compare a very severe case and a very mild case, you can see that there are few qualitative differences, and that these differences between people diagnosed "autism" and people diagnosed "Asperger's" vanish when compared to the differences between individuals within either of those two groups. The five-year-old who cannot speak and spends a lot of time lining up toy cars has a lot in common with the twelve-year-old who lectures instead of holding a conversation and has memorized every Pokemon, and they both have a lot in common with the thirty-year-old who spends his days contentedly processing data and does not initiate social contact with his friends.

The speech delay is obvious to observers, but I do not think it is a fundamental difference. The cognitive differences that cause people with Asperger's to have problems juggling listening, speaking, and understanding are the same cognitive differences that cause young children with classic autism to have problems juggling speaking and thinking about what to say. The cognitive differences that cause Aspies to have such a hard time learning the nuances of social undertext are the same ones that cause young auties to have trouble understanding what speech is for and how to use it.

I have been diagnosed with Asperger's more than any other autism type, and yet I can see a lot of myself in the descriptions of people who are diagnosed with classic autism. I have an aloof social style--no anxiety, but also no instinctive connection with others. I remember learning a lot of things by "brute force", using my giftedness to analyze and learn speech, communication, and self-care skills, and I think that if I were not gifted, I would have had a speech delay and even more of a delay in self-care than I have.

It seems to me that much of the unwillingness to look at Asperger's and classic autism as part of the same general picture comes not from the analysis of the syndromes, but from the unwillingness to become associated with disability. There are some presuppositions about disability that imply that AS and autism can't be the same thing--the idea that disability is severe and obvious, that it cannot be associated with giftedness or talent, and that it must automatically mean you are less capable in every area than anyone who is not disabled. None of that is true, though.

I know there's a broad spectrum involved, but trying to place AS in a completely separate category seems elitist to me.

What is the difference between High Functioning Asperger's and High Functioning Autism??? If Asperger's is a High-Functioning form of Autism, then what could possibly be High Functioning Aspergers???

I want to stay out of these debates, but, Callista, I just want to say that people who have had a considerable speech delay or are still fully or practically nonverbal can have and often have normal general intelligence. I don’t consider myself any less “intelligent” or “gifted” than the ones who didn’t have a speech delay. I believe it was/is due to a different “wiring” in the brain. I agree that good cognitive abilities can help a lot in learning different strategies to cope with autism and hide it from the outside observer, but the reason why some didn’t/don’t learn to talk, has in my opinion nothing to do with being gifted or not. But I understand what you probably tried to say.

You ignore a direct question and then query your own posts and expect answers????????????

Well, I suppose that if you object so strongly, you could earn a degree in psychology, do some real research, and then publish your own criteria ...

providing people post in a manner where they dont disrespect or dehumanize us by complaining of being 'lumped in' with us,and using us as a tragic/burden comparison to compare aspergers to, then am all for the autistic community discusing how forms may differ.

if we were to look at the social stereotype first,aspies being the social ones of the spectrum is a myth,a fellow severe autist here is so attention seeking and sociable he will talk to anyone on the street,he constantly tries to interact with everyone,and if people dont interact with him he will have challenging behaviors because staff then direct attention and interaction onto him, have ended up decking him sometimes because he will shout a word over and over and over and over to try and get interaction and from own perspective am severely information overloaded by his yapping.
have known multiple other sociable 'severe' autists to,all severities of autism are huge spectrums within a spectrum, none of us present the same way,and not all of us are the same functioning in the same areas.

we have a much more different,detatched and objectified perspective of humans than mildly autistic people do,to us they are objects all of the same worth; this has various positive points such as being 'colour blind' and lacking ability to discriminate people,never having grudges-every day starts anew...however even profoundly autistic adults look to interact with others if it involves something they enjoy-such as sitting next to them whilst they keep playing the parts of a dvd they like,its the same sort of interaction enjoyed by those of us with severe autism, and mildly autistic people to a lesser level.

if were to seperate aspergers from the rest,we may as well seperate all severities within autism as being their own condition,because that is how varied all of us on the spectrum appear,look further than the stereotypes of ASDs, the only thing every single one of us have in common with each other is the fact we all meet at least minimum criteria and the triad of impairment!

but we shoudnt be looking to seperate the spectrum and making up even more labels to classify,in own view, the reason the labels help is to get the person access to the right support,benefits,understanding in a profesional environment etc,people dont need to officialy label themselves for anything else and itd be a mighty diservice to the mildly autistic adults who need to access care services, student support services,disability benefits etc.
aspies who are not mildly affected are just another flavour of us and they are no different to high functioning kanner autistics,plenty of people have been diagnosed with autistic disorder when they never had a significant speech delay and plenty of aspies have been diagnosed as such whilst having a significant speech delay under the gilberg criteria.

I guess because the thought of someone thinking I was Autistic instead of Asperger's (since the definition of Asperger's is an "Autism Spectrum Disorder") is a discomfort to me. Please don't take that the wrong way as I am not saying that the Autisics are "lower" than us Aspies; they are just different. Like I see myself as different to them. I would hurt to know that I had unintentionally offended someone.

The reason I am saying all of this in this thread is that sometimes I feel that the Autism Spectrum is too "Broad" and that absolutely everyone that falls into the spectrum could basically be seen as, in general, "Autisic". In other words if Asperger's is an Autism Spectrum Disorder then I would be afraid of being seen as a "stereotypical" autistic...if there is such a definition. I hope everyone who reads this will understand what I'm trying to say.

Wow, I didn't know so many people would post in the time it took for me to write that. Forgive me if my last post seems like I'm ignoring the people above me. I didn't see them...

That's okay ... it seems that people your age often don't consciously notice anything that conflicts with their own world-view.

You didn't ask me any direct question. I'm not sure what you mean by this post.