Does diagnosis with Aspergers rather than autism matter?

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I live in the US. I just received an official Aspergers diagnosis last week. (I've held various diagnosis since I was 8 years old, and was just holding it for granted that I was on the spectrum because, duh. But last month I went in to make it official.)

I was confused to receive a diagnosis of Aspergers syndrome, as I had heard about its "demise." But when I looked up the diagnostic code, I discovered that it does exist in the ICD-10, which is the book that insurance agencies use.

So now I'm in a bit of a bind. I don't know wether to object or not. Speaking with people outside of the US, aspergers is alive and well. Speaking in the US, its like I've been given a fake diagnosis. I don't know what to think. I don't know if it matters.

I've tried asking around to see if anyone has any insight into this. But in general, I get two responses, strictly along country lines. If you're outside the US, Aspergers is a totally logical diagnosis and everything is fine. If they are inside the US, I'm being told to go back and stand up for my rights and get a "real" autism code on my evaluation.

I don't know what, if anything, I need to do.

Thoughts?

I think aspergers anymore just goes under autism spectrum disorder.

Even though Asperger's no longer exists in DSM-V, quite a few social service agencies still utilize DSM-IV for their programs where Asperger's still exists. DSHS of Washington still uses DSM-IV so a diagnosis of Asperger's is okay if it's services you're after, like DDA - Developmental Disability Administration, ARC - Association of ret*d Citizens, etc. As I've been finding out, a diagnosis of Asperger's is till quite relevant even in reference to health insurance; that is, you'll have to pay FULL PRICE for health insurance (about $900/month) because Asperger's is not covered under any health plan; you have to pay premium.

I have a feeling they'll probably separate the two, Asperger's and Autism, again because those with Asperger's are higher functioning and don't need institutional assistance like those with classic autism.

When I got my diagnosis about a year and a half ago, the psychologist who did the report gave me a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder level 1, which is my official diagnosis, but also included the words "HFA/Asperger's Syndrome" on the report. He did that specifically so that anyone looking at the diagnostic report could use whatever word they needed to in order to give me whatever help they could give me. I suggest that you go to the person who diagnosed you and wrote the report and have him add Autism Spectrum Disorder level 1 so that you can have both. He should know about the changes in the DSM and he should be able to do that.

ASD Diagnosis comes with benefits. Asperger's isn't treated as ASD is. Basicly, It has Medical benefits, ect.. It has helpful things helps you get services etc..

Another reason they eliminated the Asperger's distinction from the the DSM is that parents were completely using the distinction incorrectly. I used to be a special education teacher. Whether the parent's used "Autism" or "Aspergers" had much more to do with how the parents viewed the children's disability and very little to do with the child. Autism is the word they used when they wanted a high level of service. Aspergers was what they used when they wanted everyone to see their child as normal. Of course, there were exceptions to this. But the difference literally meant nothing to what we were going to be doing as teachers. It was just one more annoying distinction to keep track of when we talked with parents.

And then there was the time that Temple Grandin herself self-changed her diagnosis, because she's more like a person with Aspergers. That can't happen. You didn't speak as a child. You should always have Austism. Your just a super smart person with Autism. She was bucking the stigma of autism at the time. The difference between autism and aspergers had become about a level of stigma and an opportunity for some smart autistics to distance themselves from autistics with intellectual impairment.

So the reason for the change away from that system is clear to me. Its much better, as a clinician, to get one broad diagnosis and then figure out what level of need you are facing by actually talking to the child.

I'm just trying to figure out if I should go back to my diagnostician and ask what's up with giving me the asperger's diagnosis instead of the newer Autism 1 without intellectual impairment. I'm not sure it matters and I wonder if he had a really good reason that I don't know about.

I'm trying to word an email so that I get the information that I need. But my tendency to seem snarky gets even worse over email. I don't want to dig myself into a hole here.

im from the states. ive also worked at a systems-level within the behavioral health system here. honestly, the diagnosis only 'matters' to the system if you are seeking treatment. i was diagnosed with aspergers by my diagnostician in 2012, who later amended my diagnosis to autism spectrum disorder when i sought and was offered reasonable accommodations at work in 2013-2015. i honestly think my employer would have offered me reasonable accommodations with the aspergers. later on, i was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder by my community mental health provider, however they refused to offer me coverage for a 'developmental disability' and this is an ongoing battle with them and the 'managed care provider networks' (i.e. behavioral health insurance providers) because the thing is, insurance providers can still have more restrictive criteria than the american medical association/american psychological association. what ive learned is that your diagnosis is only a code that triggers payment for services. so, i would play it safe and advocate for the 'worst case scenario' diagnosis. ive worked since i was 15 years old, and am attending university for a phd, but ive been unemployed since october 2015 and my daily functioning is now moderately impaired. i say this to say that 'the system' has a way (it least here in michigan) of wanting to make bank on the most vulnerable and skimping on everybody above that level of functioning so i do encourage you to get the most bank for (their) bucks and get the asd. you can pm me if you want to talk more about it as the pitfalls ive encountered are a little...detailed.

Aspergers and HFA should have been the same thing because does it matter after age 3 if you had language impairments until age 3? Maybe at age 4 or 5 not at puberty or later.

I do not see Aspergers coming back as an official diagnosis. After going through all the controversy and forcing it through are they going to say oops we made a mistake?. Unless the a policy is obvoiusly and publically wrong it is much harder to revert a change then prevent it from happening in the first place. Unlike before it passed are there are no petitions going around to revert the change and outside of occassionaly here few are debating it anymore. There are increasing amounts of autistics that agree with the premises of the people who subsumed it ie too many people that are getting an Autism diagnosis that are not autistic, are not impaired. Aspergers became symbolic to the people who think this is a problem. Then there is the matter of the book "In A Different Key" that challenged the widely held belief that Hans Asperger was working within the system to undermine Nazi Eugenics and argued that he was an enabler or supporter of Nazi Eugenics. I am not saying that SOMEDAY scientific advances will not cause changing in naming and diagnostic criteria of Autism. These probably will not resemble and IMHO will definitly not be called aspergers.

The term "Asperger's" is still in the ICD-10, used in the UK, even though it's been dropped as a name given to the diagnosis in the American-used DSM-5, which now calls it ASD level 1.

In the UK things are a bit messy as a diagnosis can still be given with the word Asperger's in it, yet other UK diagnosticians just go ahead and call it ASD level 1.

Some include both terms in the report -- mine did just over a year and a half ago.

So, it's still a relevant term in the UK but I'm surprised to hear of a US diagnosis report still using the word.

Don't worry too much though; it's the same "level" as "ASD level 1". You could contact your diagnostician to confirm that he or she intends this as ASD level 1, just for peace of mind. It's not yet an issue in the UK but being you're in the US where it's been more fully considered "dropped" you might want to check for peace of mind with your clinician.

Asperger's is still a valid diagnosis in the US because it's in the ICD-10, which is used in the US more often than people might imagine.

It's still valid, too, because of its history. It will always be valid because of Han Asperger's works.