Autism isn't a mental illness

Post Reply New Topic

I am tired of people asking me, "Are you well?" I don't have a mental illness.
I receive Disability benefits for a mild Learning Disability. The only diagnose I am aware of by a Psychiatrist is High functioning Autism.
I take medication to help with depression and anxiety. The medication can slow my speech.
Perhaps that is why people sometimes ask me, 'are you well?'
because my speech is slow or slurred without medication. Medication makes my speech worse.
I once saw a Psychologist who believed I had mild autism also.

Last edited by Sieanna on 05 Jul 2013, 7:55 am, edited 1 time in total.

Are you sure they're not just asking about your health in general? NTs ask each other the same question all the time, they're just being polite

People often ask me that question and they are polite and no I don't think it is typical.

I've always thought of "Are you well?" as being the same as "How are you?". My dad always phrases it that way to anyone he hasn't seen for a while, regardless of whether they're autistic or not. To me it doesn't sound like they're asking because of your autism - the question is rarely about health anyway, it's more to do with finding out what you've been up to etc. I wouldn't take it personally

sienna,
where abouts are from? this can affect the sort of things people address others like.
for example,in america autism is regulary refered to as a 'health condition' and a 'mental illness' or 'pyschiatric disorder' and this is because traditionaly it has always been diagnosed via pyschiatric manual criteria [eg, ICD,DSM,gilberg].

in the UK disability awareness is more progressive on disability language and the closest will medicaly find to what america terms it is 'mental impairment',which is what the DWP categorise everything that isnt physical.

just ask them what they meant by it without being nasty and it shoud help clear things up.
if they do actualy think autism is a mental illness then perhaps can help by educating them on it.
or perhaps look into getting involved in autism activism; one of the issues coud be highlighting is exactly this point.

How could autism be a mental illness or psychiatric disorder when it is neurological. Epilepsy is neurological.

Mental illness, mental disorder; it's just semantics.

Since it's classed as a mental disorder, it can be called a mental illness (you can use them interchangeably).

It's neurological in origin, but you'll find most mental illnesses are.

Of course Autism isn't a mental illness, but it's still a mental disorder/condition. Depression and anxiety are mental illnesses however, so if you have those then you do have mental illness. Not really sure where this thread is supposed to go.

Depression and anxiety aren't autism though are they. People could say Epilepsy is a disorder of the mind but it still isn't a mental illness.

Unfortunately, I can't agree with you fully. You yourself might just be fine. But if Autism is affecting your ability to do daily tasks and to live on your own, that person needs treatment.

Moved from Autism Politics, Activism, and Media Representation to GAD]

Don't think anyone said those things are autism. I said they are mental illnesses, having autism does not make one immune to mental illnesses like depression or anxiety.

Last edited by Sweetleaf on 07 Jul 2013, 10:40 am, edited 1 time in total.

I don't think the question 'are you well?' refers to a belief that autism is a mental illness.

I've seen it used in two contexts:

As a polite thing to say after greeting someone, same as 'how are you?' or 'how is it going?' In this case, the person saying this is generally expecting the reply 'I'm fine', and usually does not expect that there will be anything 'wrong' with the person.

When a person is showing signs that could indicate an acute illness (not a chronic condition). For example, if you started feeling faint and sat down on the ground, someone might ask you this. In this case, they aren't expecting to hear about a chronic health condition, much less a mental illness. Instead, they're expecting to hear why you are sitting on the ground, and whether you need them to get you some sort of help.

Most of the time, when talking to someone who has slurred speech and appears to have some sort of mental condition, people will generally not ask about it. Instead, they'll try to pretend they haven't noticed anything odd about the person, although afterwards they may comment about them to others. (And depending on how nice or mean they are, these comments could be positive or negative.)

mental illness
n.
Any of various conditions characterized by impairment of an individual's normal cognitive, emotional, or behavioral functioning, and caused by social, psychological, biochemical, genetic, or other factors, such as infection or head trauma. Also called emotional illness, mental disease, mental disorder.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

mental illness

Hence, it's a mental illness.

I have no idea why people have a problem with that.

Me neither. I think of both my AS and ADHD as mental illnesses. They both cause me significant problems with tasks NTs can ordinarily manage without any trouble. Ergo, illness.

I think people have a problem with it because there's a new trend of people disliking labels. I don't mind the labels, because I know what I am capable of and what I am not capable of. The label changes nothing.