AS being a "Type of Autism" ruins my self esteem.

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This has been upsetting me for quite a while now that milder forms of AS are being put anywhere near classic Autism or that AS is the same as High Functioning Autism. The thing is that I can read people's facial expressions and understand body language, I don't flap my hands, I can understand sarcasm unless I'm not paying attention and have good friends. Yet, I tend to really start feeling negative toward myself and how I look like to other people. Sometimes, simply looking in the mirror can make me feel s**t for the rest of the day, especially after seeing all the disdain that people have for people with AS because of how it apparently is simply a milder form of being too disabled to speak or do simple tasks like tying your shoes and have violent anger outbursts over the tiniest things. It makes me feel uncomfortable being put in a spectrum with people who are discriminated against because they're genuinely disabled.

Apparently science can't see much of a difference. Nobody wants a clear distinction between AS and Autism, not even the AS folks, yet AS seems closer to being NT than having Autism to me.

AS is on the autistic spectrum. Even those under the AS umbrella very greatly in abilities and deficiencies. People with more challenges aren't lesser than anyone else. Deal with it, and then move on with your life.

Why don't people realize you build self esteem. I think it gets mixed up with ego, which too many people cradle like a fragile egg.

I'm just sick of stereotypes and being diagnostically seen as "mild ret*d". Don't forget that a lot of people want severely autistic people euthanized because of how "worthless" they are to them. I don't condone the genocidal thoughts of some NTs but I can understand why they would think that way. I hate seeing myself as a burden or "ret*d" because Autism is a "spectrum disorder" and everyone on the spectrum is being treated equally bad. I didn't even get the same tools as other people did in primary school
because they were "too dangerous".

It's hard but don't let others define you. We are all sick of the stereotypes and stigmas. You feel that way maybe because people have been stigmatizing us as others or below. As a reaction for protection purposes some of us "other" or think of our fellow Autistics on another part of the spectrum as "lower people" . Intended or not you are coming across as that type of person. A few people othering other autistics has led to a stigma of Aspies being elitists. Where I am located the elitist savent stereotypes of Aspergers is becoming just as prevalent as the ones you are describing. Yeah, it makes me feel like s**t at times.

Aspie elitists feel like they are superior to Neurotypical people. These people make themselves and other people with AS look bad and they are just generally annoying people who don't work on their problems because they're "so good".

I actually want to be more like a Neurotypical and try to achieve that by improving myself.

I don't want to pass as to be "improved". I don't looked at them as better, some of them are better at a lot of things some are worse then me at a lot of things just like other Autistics. Actually "want" does not even come into the equasion. Have to, to survive is more like it. It's always trying to find a balance doing just enough to survive and "passing" too much which has led me in the past to Autistic burnout and losing who I am which will never ever will be neurotypical

AS always was in the autism spectrum....its just more clear now as far as diagnoses goes. But what you say here kinda points towards you thinking its ok to discriminate against genuinely disabled and don't want to be associated with those 'freaks' does that really make you any better than the people who discriminate against more disabled people on the spectrum?

i predict that this thread will need to be locked.

Fireworks in 3....2.....1

Glad that peepol with ASD are finalee cluing in to this. Aspie elitest scum shud just go away.

Elitism of any sort isn't right. White supremacy, black supremacy, aspie supremacy, NT supremacy, they're all basically the same in my eyes.

Anyway, as far as AS being a "type of autism", well, it's not a "type" of autism, it IS autism, plain and simple. Autism is a spectrum disorder, and different people are affected by it in different ways. "Aspergers Syndrome" was just an old label for people on the higher-functioning end of the spectrum, who generally had higher-than-average IQs and no form of speech delay. Of course, there are a great number of people on the spectrum who had a speech delay as well as having a higher-than-average IQ, or had no speech delay, but an average or lower-than-average IQ. Really though, there aren't enough distinguishing characteristics for "Aspergers Syndrome" that it can be considered its own disorder, due to all the other variables.

But, don't be too hard on yourself about it. We're all in this together, and at the end of the day, autism really just means that your brain is wired somewhat differently than most people's. It's not itself inherently a bad thing, though some of its possible symptoms can be.

SIDWULF, please post within forum rules.

That's not true; I've come across several parents of classicly autistic children who strongly desire a clear distinction between the two.

Your thinking here is unclear and you are projecting your own inner thoughts onto other people. If people look down on you, it's for what you do, not because of some technical label change. Most people don't know anything about autism, aspergers or the details of the DSM unless they are related to or closely connected to an autistic person.

If your autistic symptoms are so mild that they don't cause any problems in your life, then you should not be diagnosed as autistic.

But if your social communication issues and restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior cause you problems, then those are the root of your problems, not the fact that scientists and doctors who study developmental disorders have rearranged their organization of the categories they use.

Your idea about what constitutes "genuine disability" is flawed. You don't seem to understand the concept of "invisible disability" and perhaps if you researched this it would help.

You probably didn't mean that people with more visible disabilities deserve to be discriminated against, but that is a potential implication of your statement. Probably some research into invisible disability would help you to think through the implications of those ideas too.

It isn't a question of what they want, it's what seems to be true. There wasn't a clear distinction between high functioning autism and asperger's syndrome, so they stopped making it.

When current research reveals meaningful distinctions within the spectrum, new labels will emerge, but they won't significantly alter the interactions autistic or aspergian people have with neurotypicals. For the first 47 years of my life I had no label other than "gifted" but my interactions with most people were always strained, prone to misunderstanding and sustaining relationships with them has always been very hard. I got the "aspergers" label just months before the DSM change... and having the old or new label doesn't make any difference to my history or patterns of interaction with other people.

The problems are not about the label, they are about they differences in social communication and behavior. The label is a way for medical people and therapists to help organize their understanding of those symptoms, and to help you understand them if you want to--but the label is not the problem that complicates the interactions with others. It's the fact that interactions with others are complicated that gets the label.

Being upset about this is like being upset that a "mild" thunderstorm and a hurricane both get the "severe weather" label. It's not the labels that makes people react, it's the characteristics the labels describe.

Is it just me or has there been a history of an atmosphere of arrogance and/or glib dismissiveness on WP when people suggest that Asperger's Syndrome and autism are not, or should not be classified as, the same condition?

How do you know that the OP is projecting?

That is false. People look down on other people for reasons other than "what you do" all the time! Also, OP didn't say that people look down because of any label change, but because they view AS as a milder version of severely disabling traits.


Maybe the OP is talking about personally known people who do know something about these things?



This is a presumptuous statement. Next to nothing about the OP's views on what is or is not a genuine disability can be inferred from this thread because it is not stated why the term "genuine disability" is used; there's no indication that the concept of invisible disabilities is relevant.


How does saying that people are discriminated against imply that they should be discriminated against?

I don't, of course.
I may be failing to imagine the OP's situation. But in the contexts I am familiar with, people don't usually know what labels other people have, so they can't be thinking that way. It may well be that the OPs particular circumstance is completely different.

And in that case, the line of thinking I was expressing would be completely wrong. But it seems to me, perhaps wrongly, that if people do know about these things, they will recognize that the spectrum concept doesn't really equate different symptoms and traits on the spectrum.

Possibly. I may have completely misread the OP, but with the compare/contrast language with more obvious expressions of autism (flapping hands, not being able to tie shoelaces, etc) used by the OP, that's what made sense to me.

Of course Asperger's or Level 1 Autism or High Function Autism or whatever you want to call is still Autism. The classic autistic who have to cope with so much more impairment, sacrifice so much more dignity and live without the option of "pretending to be normal" that inspires me. Their triumphs boost my self-esteem.