Do you consider autism a disease ?

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Yesterday I was a WJCS and I met this person with AS and his family. I asked his mom if she thinks that autism is a disease. She said it's not a disease like certain diseases. Then I asked her son the one with aspergers and he said nobody should have to have autism. I then asked them if they support autism speaks then they said yes. I said yes I do too but not in the same way like they might but part of that I said in my mind. I told them about Wrong Planet and said that I'm writing a book on autism in a different light and showed them Justin my autism speaks bear and part of my book and they said they will check out the site and read my book when it comes out.


So what do you think? Do you think autism is a disease? Do you think it needs to be cured or do you think it's a different type of species or what do you think?

I don't want to say much because of my book but what I do want to say is that I think autism is like a different type of species and that it should not be cured but should be accommodated. People with autism should be treated like people who have feelings, souls and hearts.

I don't think autism is a disease, but I do think it is a disability. I don't see it as a different species, but a variation in the same species. I definitely agree with you that autism should be accommodated, not cured, and that people with autism should be accepted.

Good luck with your book!

Autism isn't a disease, it's a condition, a different way of being, thinking, feeling, relating. The autistic worldview is in many respects very similar to that of artists - we both have an essential 'disconnect' with what might be called 'mainstream society'.

In the medical model of Autism because Autism causes "impairment" it would meet that criteria.

In the social model of Autism "impairments" are the result of others judgement s that Autistic traits are wrong.

In common usage disease equals infectious disease which has not been proven for Autism.

No Autism experts I know of going back to Kanner and Asperger have described Autism as a disease.

To actually answer your question I personally do not think of it as a disease.

Autism Speaks is generally regarded as favoring the medical model of Autism and is spending large amount of money searching for a cure. Their latest project is trying to prove gut inflammation has a role in Autism. If they prove this and that inflammation and this inflammation was caused by an infectious agent they will have "proved" it is disease to be cured. But that seems far far away if it will happen at all.

I like the idea of you seing it as a new species.
Biology classifies every living thing accordig to taxonomy.

Every living thing but humans, that is.
Instead they got DSM-V to label all those that do not fit the regular pattern.
Maybe all those labelled by DSM are just subspecies.
I can't, and never have really been able to, relate to people whom have a pathological need to put everything in pigeon holes and label it appropriately. They're the ones with a real case of OCD to me

Autism is not a disease to me, it's a different way of being.

Who told u or gave you the idea that it was a disease? I don't think it's a disease either. Actually, everyone thinks differently and we think... a little more differently. Also some people aren't sure if they're autistic/aspies or not because they have things in common with us and other things they don't. So they couldn't be half-diseased. If there were no autistic people / aspies on earth, everyone would be super-social and no one would be logical.

Autism is not a Disease! Need I say that 100 times?

A disease is something that can be spread by viruses....

Autism and related are neurological conditions. I'd seriously wouldn't consider talking to anyone who thinks of it as a disease.

I actually wrote about this on my blog series "Care and Feeding of Your Aspie"
This is what I wrote:


Autistic Spectrum individuals and Parents/Family members of Autistic Spectrum individuals tend to rankle at the following statement.

Autism is a disease.

I find it odd that a group of people who are noted for their literal nature would react with such vehemence to such a simple statement.

The medical definition of a disease is “an impairment of the normal state of the living animal or plant body or one of its parts that interrupts or modifies the performance of the vital functions, is typically manifested by distinguishing signs and symptoms, and is a response to environmental factors (as malnutrition, industrial hazards, or climate), to specific infective agents (as worms, bacteria, or viruses), to inherent defects of the organism (as genetic anomalies), or to combinations of these factors”

For some reason, the word disease carries a stigma with it. There are negative connotations that Autistic Spectrum individuals and their families apply to the word.

I don’t understand it… and in most cases, the individuals getting offended with the application of the word. So, let’s take a look at some of the arguments.

Autism isn’t a disease because:
It occurs in both disabling and non-disabling forms.
Whether or not it is a disabling condition is not part of the definition of disease, nor should it be. Vitiligo, exzema, psoriasis, diabetes and lichen simplex chronicus are all diseases. Each of these are also non-disabling conditions. They are no less diseases because of that.

Autism is a disorder – autism isn’t an illness.
Technically… it is an illness. The World English Dictionary defines an illness as “a disease or indisposition.” Again, I will go back to the definition of a disease… “an impairment of the normal state of the living animal… that interrupts or modifies the performance of the vital functions.” So, this argument is belied by the definition of disease.

It just means the brain is wired differently – not better or worse just… differently.

Wired Differently
This is the part of the definition of disease that states “that interrupts or modifies the performance of the vital functions, is typically manifested by distinguishing signs and symptoms.” The fact that Autism Spectrum disorders have a set of symptoms fits into the distinguishing signs and symptoms. This argument typically comes from family. Speaking as an Autistic Spectrum individual… it is worse… over stimulation, stimming, meltdowns, tantrums, excessive cognitive dissonance and comorbid conditions make it worse.

Some people insist on labeling autism in a negative light.
I have made this point before, but there are often emotional connotations placed on words that have nothing to do with their actual definitions. I have often cited the words whore and prostitute. They both mean a person who has sex for money. Whore has an emotional impact that prostitute does not. If you call a prostitute a whore… they will become angry, often to the point of becoming enraged.

Obviously, the word disease has negative connotations that are not inherent to the word. Applying these connotations to a word defeats the purpose of having a dictionary.

Autism is not a disease – it can’t be cured.
Again, nowhere in the definition does it mention that a disease can be cured. Diabetes is a disease. Lupus is a disease. Marfam’s is a disease. None of these conditions can be can be cured. Therefore, curability is not a deciding factor as to whether or not it is a disease.

It is a syndrome, not a disease.
The dictionary defines a Syndrome as a “group of symptoms that together are characteristic of a specific disorder, disease, or the like.” Look at that definition… I mean read it… A syndrome… is a group of symptoms that define a DISEASE… Just for the heck of it… the definition of symptom is ” a phenomenon that arises from and accompanies a particular disease or disorder and serves as an indication of it.”


No… THIS is syndrome… He might be autistic… but…
well… you get the point.
It goes on like that. The issues are that there is a lack of education and a surplus of emotion surrounding the word Disease.

As an Autistic Spectrum individual, I am forced to look at it from an objective standpoint. We either admit that there is something wrong with us… and by wrong, I am referring to the fact that our mental and emotional functions are different… we are not normal, by the medical and psychological definitions of normal… or we accept what we are and move forward.

We have to decide.

The thing is – Autistic Spectrum Disorders have a set of symptoms. It can be diagnosed. There is research into diagnostic criteria and treatment plans.

If Autism isn’t a disease, then we have no rights to mental health treatment. We can’t be disabled because of it. We can’t expect the world to work with us. If we’re just different, we have no right to tell people about our condition.

If we let the negative connotation of the word interfere; if we let our pride get in the way; we lose our greatest tool in the battle of Autistic Spectrum survival.

If you give up those tools, the Neurotypicals of the world are proven right. If there is nothing wrong with us… then we are just using it as an excuse to be rude; quiet hands are a necessity; we’re probably just mentally ret*d; we can just get over it; we are just anti-social; we are just attention seeking; there’s no such thing as a special needs adult.

The mantra of “There is nothing wrong with me.” is essential for the self esteem needed to function in NT society, but it is detrimental to our cause – which should be finding treatment plans and skill training that can help us survive the minefield of the NT world around us. If there is nothing wrong with us, we are (to the last of us) destined to end up miserable and alone. Our friends and family accept us… we should do ourselves the same courtesy.

This is what the NTs will see if we continue
on the course set by “Autism is not a disease!”


I am drawing a line in the sand – swallow your pride like I have had to do, and accept it. A wise man I once knew said, “There is no forward motion without a backward notion.” We can’t know where we’re going if we don’t know where we have been.

The other option is to toe up to the line and stick our heads in the sand.

No. It is not.

Asthma, diabetes, cancer... all diseases... not caused by viruses... Please see my previous post

Perhaps... but the statement contradicts the definitions of disease used by doctors... I respect your opinion, but I have ot disagree.

I do not think my autism is a disease any more than I would think being nearsighted is a disease. But I do see it as an impairment the same as I see needing eyeglasses as being an impairment. If they had something for correcting my autism the same as impaired vision is corrected, then I would want to have it.

It is definitely not a disease. It's also not a different species, as autistic people and non autistic people can produce fertile offspring. Which is usually one the ways you know whether it's a different species or not.

This is incorrect. Wolves and dogs are different species, but can produce viable, fertile offspring. Recently, it was confirmed that a polar bear grizzly hybrid was second generation... It is also our current understanding that homo sapiens and homo neanderthalensis interbred extensively and that Neanderthal DNA exists in all modern humans (meaning that the offspring were fertile)...

This.

A disease is something other than the "normal" and "healthy" functioning of the human condition.

So, a "disability" can be considered a "disease" in that respect. If there was a treatment to prevent autism from happening (especially the negative effects of autism), that would not be a bad thing.

You treat a "disease." You cure a "disease."

The difference is that if you are born with certain conditions or suffer certain injuries, you have something that is not communicable to others and really can't be "cured" until such time that medical science develops a treatment that enables such an affected person to choose to be rid of their disability in a safe and effective manner.