dsm 5

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so,what's up with new dsm 5, so all of us asperger,hfa,lfa,pddnos,kanner
are all just asd now.
(autism spectrum disorder)

Yes, except there are 3 severity levels.

Yes, we're all autistic now; it will take some getting used to, but it kind of knocks us all up or down to the same level so to speak.
I guess it was just some sort of elitist fantasy to think I may have been an Aspie, and that it was better than having autism.
The reality is that no two people are the same whether NT, autistic, schizophrenia, or bipolar are in the mix.
We're all equal in a sense, just the equality isn't so equally shared in our character traits.
Now not only do we have to cope with the people who used to say Asperger's isn't real, we also have to contend with people thinking because our autism is classified as mild, that it means we are just the same as NT's, and don't need any help.
20 years of therapy and a diagnosis just over three weeks old, and at least one serious suicide attempt says my problems are not mild, and are not imaginary.

Here are the three levels (courtesy of Google images and Blogger):

Last edited by nominalist on 06 Aug 2013, 5:38 am, edited 1 time in total.

My occupational therapist was very upset with the changes. More upset than I was, well, considering that I just don't care. Hah. I've had both Aspergers and High Functioning Autism used to describe me, depending on the doctor. On paper, it's autism. My therapists all classified both AS & ASD's as forms of autism. The way it was explained to me, the differences are social. Asperger's have poor social skills but want to be social to some degree but have a hard time with it, and HFA has poor social skills but it totally indifferent to it. It's not a technical explanation, but that's what was explained to me and it makes sense to my situation. With the new changes, she has to "re-diagnose/classify" her patients into very vague categories.

Last edited by nominalist on 06 Aug 2013, 5:44 am, edited 1 time in total.

I have poor communication skills, so I'll repeat the above for you. My OT doesn't talk to me like I'm on her level, because I'm not. Comprehension wise, orally, I'm a 5 year old. Written language I can understand much easier. Verbally, it's overwhelming to the point I stim, then break down. With the noises, the motions, the textures in the room, I can't follow dialogue, therefore the dialogue I do have with every one of my therapists is simplified or put into sign language. Instead of explaining the process she called it "reclassifying". She has some patients with severe aspergers and some with mild, clearly they'll be in different categories according to the DSM-V. She now has to re-evaluate each patients files for their individual scenarios.

Your unfriendly response was not appreciated, especially when it's directed at someone who has helped me tremendously.

Allison:

I am sorry. I did not mean to offend you. I have edited the message to remove what I wrote.

My comment on taking the continuing education class was meant as a joke about the occupational therapist, not about you. That is why I added the "lol" at the end.

God bless you.