Why is "Aspergers" gone?

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Technically speaking, aspergers syndrome is extinct. No child who gets diagnosed with an ASD this year will be diagnosed with aspergers. Apparently the DSMV decided to remove it, and just give a general "autism" diagnosis for the sake of making things less complicated.

Idk how the rest of you feel, but I think this is a grave mistake.


Although true Aspergers is a part of the autism spectrum I think it is distinct from autism, in the sense that is relativly milder, yet still pretty disabling in many ways. I just worry that with it gone, parents who have aspergers kids might not be as keen to notice something is "up" with their offspring, since they seem verbal and friendly enough if a bit odd.


I just think Aspergers is an important, significant thing to retain, and it is a shame that they are getting rid of it.

I hate to be suspicious, but I suspect their are less than benevolent reasons for the DSM Vs decision.

There are many, many kids with an autism diagnosis nowadays. Autism costs public school districts more money than the average student. I believe the psychological community may be under pressure from government, to make it so they don't have to pay as much.


If there is only an "autism" diagnosis, regular every day parents ( who only think of autism as "nonverbal, locked in own little world/savant" might not notice that little johnny has a thing called aspergers at all, and won't seek to get a diagnosis that could be true, and burden the public school.

Am I right in my distress over aspergers syndrome's removal? Am I being too suspicious?

I hate to sound paranoid, but from what I have learned, generally speaking, the public school does not wish to be anyone's "friend" per se. Their job is not be a friend or look out for everyone, but to do the best they can with a limited number of resources, no matter what end result that might be.

Any ideas anyone?

You're talking about a set of standards that I believe only apply in the States, and it seems not all doctors in the States agreee with the new standards.

Asperger's has been viewed as a form of high functioning autism, the key difference being that Aspies didn't have language development problems as kids, whereas even other high functioning people did.

There are still people who fit that description, it's just that some doctors don't view it as important enough to deserve its own name any more.

Any kid who drew attention that led to being diagnosed as being an Aspie will still get diagnosed. It's just that the general term "Autism" will be used, without the sub-catagory "Asperger's" being included.

As mentioned, many still use the term, even in the States, and certainly in other countries as well.

Asperger's lives, and the term is so set in stone, I doubt it'll go away any time soon.

There's a local autism group here in my area that calls itself an "Asperger's Association". They're making no effort at changing their name, and I live in the States.

As for schools, I don't see what they have to do with any of this. Schools don't diagnose autism.

Th DSM 5 is a guideline. Clinicians are not required to use it. Some don't. We have had recently some new "Aspergers" Diagnosis that I think were from the States.

As for why it was taken out.

1. It was felt it was basically the same as Autism
2. Perceived overdiagnosis (Rates of autism diagnosis were skyrocketing especially in the "high functioning" areas)
A. Parents pressing for disability their kids did not deserve .
B. Perceived as go to diagnosis socially awkward people
C. Perceived use as an excuse for character flaws and bad or immature behavior
3. Feeling that Aspergers awareness and advocacy was taking money, resources away from "low functioning" people that deserved it more.
4. Some Asperger advocates were also in favor of the action because they felt Aspergers is not a disorder and should not be listed in a manual for mental disorders. With it out of the book they feel free to use the term in a more positive way.

I did provide links for a lot of the above in other threads.

Below is just my feeling of effects of the DSM 5 taking Aspergers away

1. Despite fears of sharp drop in diagnosis early indications are this is not happening. The DSM 5 recommended that those previously diagnosed with Aspergers keep thier diagnosis with the new name. Psychologists if they feel their patients need support are finding ways to fit their patients into the new criteria. In my case they said you have Aspergers under he DSM 4, Autism Spectrum Disorder under the DSM 5.
2. Psychologically it has had negative effects. From what I see the view of the condition in posts here are much more negative then before the change. One reason cited is that people do not want to be associated in the public eye with "aspie wannabees" and the stereotypical view of the condition as geeks who are socially awkward because it devalues the real suffering of their pervasive developmental disorder.

My opinion is that the best thing about the DSM 5 is the recognition of sensory sensitivities as part of Autism and that Autistic people by coping can present as neurotypical like. But the idea of a diagnosis as a positive identity (unprecedented) was really helpful to people. From what I see Aspergers is still being used but more as a descriptor then identity. I do see this as not only a backlash against the term Aspergers but of the very idea of for lack of better terms "high functioning", "mild" autism. It feels we are going back to the 1980's before awareness of Aspergers/HFA

It was true the Aspie supremacists and others used the term a part of their ableism against lower functioning people and to deny that they are autistic. But you should not punish everybody because of a few jerks. If the DSM 5 is revised I would hope they would change ASD Level 1 to Aspergers-Autism. (the other levels could be Kannars-Autism etc). Which is ok because Hans Asperger used the word Autism to describe his patients. The HFA people would be subsumed into Aspergers which is good because I agree that delays people had before age 3 does not make Aspergers a completely different condition. With official recognition maybe the idea of Aspergers as a positive identity can be salvaged. Official recognition that people so diagnosed are autistic would remain.

Aspertastic424 - I do agree with everything you mention there. I suspect ASD better reflects the reality of a spectrum, therefore 'may' be more accurate as a description, however in real life I don't think it will be applied well practically. So my opinion is complicated haha, but basically I agree that whether or not an umbrella term of ASD is more accurate, I suspect that you are right in saying it probably hasn't been changed for benevolent reasons. I find the DSM to be much of a joke in general, but that's another discussion.

I know the understanding of the general public/health professionals/education authorities regarding mental illness or disabilities is not good anyway and highly contaminated by media hype (hell I didn't have much of a clue what autism or asperger's was until someone suggested I had it, so I researched a lot.) So I know that even saying you have 'Asperger's' may require an explanation of what that means. However I think the general public would find ASD even more confusing, with their lack of education on the matter. E.g. if someone says they have ASD, that merely says they have autism anywhere between severely autistic to very high functioning. So then the person would no doubt have to explain that there is quite a difference between severe autism and having 'a dash of autism'. Whereas if a person says they have Asperger's, I think the explanation that 'it is a type of autism at the higher functioning end', would be easier for people to get it straight in their head's that in practical terms, classic autism and Asperger's are pretty different (although coming from the same roots). Hmm, don't know if I've explained that very well, and please correct me if I am mistaken or causing offence!

But anyway, I think like you say, this has potential to cause bigger problems regarding education and within employment/ getting employment.

Sethno - No schools don't diagnose autism, but I think Aspertastic424 is right in suggesting schools have a lot to with this, seeing as they are the ones responsible for providing understanding support to those with ASD/Asperger's, which can make a massive difference to someone's functioning, potential and quality of life. Sadly many schools/hospitals etc will take every opportunity to stigmatise for their own benefit regardless of the child's best interests, so I worry that as wrong as it is 'ASD' may encourage the stigma. It is completely wrong that a school or parents with a child with more severe autism can be seen as too much of a burden and a lost cause to help, but I think 'ASD' may well make schools and employers etc feel more reluctant to want to take responsibility than for someone diagnosed with 'Asperger's' because they may think it will take much more effort, time and resources to support someone with ASD, and may assume there is less potential. I stress that I do think this is completely horrible and wrong, and people with more severe forms of autism still have a lot of potential for contributing amazingly to society if given the right support, from what I've read, but wrong and horrible often seems to be how the world works.

- I don't think these new standards do only apply in the States. I live in the UK and from my experience the DSM is the manual that professionals often stand by and use like a bible (wrongly in my opinion, it should be guidelines complimented by professional in-depth studying, experience and common sense, but that often isn't the case). So although it may take a bit of time for the adjustment to the new DSM to become fully apparent, I think it is just a matter of time, and that adjustment may already have taken place. Indeed, when I recently read a school inspection report from December 2013, the term in use was already 'Autism Spectrum Disorder' with no mention of Asperger's or a distinction. This to me suggests that new DSM has already taken effect in the UK in how schools view autism. This is fine as long as the schools understand the autism spectrum well in order to recognise when to get the child access to professional support, without stigmatising in the process.

It didn't like all the attention. You know, what with it being socially distant and all.

Seems to me that HFA got called Asperger's to begin with because it wasn't recognized
as autism when it should have been. In other words, the term Asperger's existed due to
an oversight.

When I was in school for ASD kids for 6 years, we did not have an Asperger's
side of the campus. None of the kids with Asperger's were set aside in any way. We were all
one student body with varying degrees of autism.

I think it was because the diagnosis needed to be streamlined and fit under a more broad scope, and have details placed after the broad diagnosis is complete. Not everyone follows the DSM-V but it's a guideline used by a lot. Asperger's isn't really extinct, it's now fitted under a new guise - plain old autism.

Overdiagnosis was a problem in the early 2000's era I personally believe but not as much as some people who believe that say. I think it was more of a fear boost or something from some people who maybe weren't the best at identifying, which is why I encourage reevaluation since I think things have changed since then. I've only met maybe 1 or 2 people though who themselves believed they weren't autistic and believed they needed a reevaluation, and were diagnosed in that era. I don't think it contributed to the change nearly as much as just streamlining the definition though since most people who had a diagnosis ended up being diagnosed with autism anyways.

My understanding was that the UK used the World Health Organisation (WHO)'s International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD) for official purposes, and the DSM was just influential. (Or at least that's how Autism UK understand it*)

The use of "Autism Spectrum Disorder" is probably just to make things easier, rather than an indication as how to the school or college views Asperger's.

*I would post a link, but I'm a lurker and haven't made 5 posts yet...

insurance covers autism, but not aspie. It's a good move financially for the families who want to try and hire social workers and use their insurance.

Essentially, having two practically identical diagnoses is stupid.

Yep, this is my understanding too. Clinicians prefer to give diagnoses of ASD over AS these days, but they use the ICD.

Yes, I was diagnosed as an adult in the UK recently and they diagnosed ASD (severity equivalent to Asperger's syndrome). I asked them about the use of terminology and they confirmed that they wanted to diagnose in accordance with the expected ICD changes. I though including a reference to AS was a nice touch though - not something they had to do but will make the diagnosis easier to deal with for those who prefer AS to the idea of ASD.

I agree with the change since there is almost no functional difference between ASD and AS definitions. I prefer logic and clarity and this change seems much tidier to me.

Personally, I agree that i could roughly described by AS but I have some issues which are more associated with regular autism so it seems like there is so much crossover they might as well be one condition.

watch out though, theres often a pack of dogs to descend on and tear us apart when i utter this line of free thinking common sense ....

aspis to my mind crave friendships whereas autists are notoriously cold.

aspis often have talents and can soar above others with their abilities, autists (I hope I don't offend) seem like granite .... cold and inflexible, dead to inference and hint ..... maybe v occasionally with a super-functioning gift but near to odd as odd can be ....

it is scientifically, clinically, emotionally, legally unsupportable, taxanomically absurd, name what you want, to bunch these opposites/ extremes of outlook, perception and feelings as one label.

thats all my tired noodle can think of right now, ongoing fatigue is hindering me ....and no matter what i write it hardly makes a jot to those so hell bent on proceeding with the change ...

I am sure there are quite a few people here with an autism diagnoses rather than aspergers who would disagree with your generalization about non aspie autistics. One reason I am glad for the DSM change is maybe it will lead to less of these kind of generalizations, aspies aren't a special slightly better category than autistics anymore. Also maybe people will quit assuming all with 'aspergers' have a special talent and such that can make up for their difficulties. Autism is a spectrum some people have it more severely than other.

Last edited by Sweetleaf on 23 Feb 2014, 10:40 am, edited 1 time in total.

Well, they did it, because the lines between HFA and AS became so blurred that nobody knew really where they were anymore. Some people with AS could fit the classic autism diagnosis in every way except for the speech delay, and some people with classic autism could fit AS more, but they did have a speech delay. Well, that's what I've learned.

With the changes now they finally acknowledge speech delay is one symptom of autism that not everyone with autism experiences. I never got the hyperfocusing on that one specific symptom separating aspergers from autism, never made sense....but now it seems to be viewed more correctly.

because some forms of autism are degenerative, i.e. more covered by insurance. My brother developed normally-ish until age 2-3 when his speach skills disappeared permanently, at least in 10 years they haven't noticeably improved.