How Serious Is Autism To You?

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To me autism is a serious disorder. It is a disability. It's not something I would expect anyone would want to have, and something I would expect somone to want to be cured of it.

Seems like a lot of times I see people describing autism as like being gay, as in it's an orientation rather than a disorder.

A long time ago being gay was considered a clinical disorder. Then it was finally recognized as simply being a sexual orientation. That being gay did not mean there was anything wrong with you.

And it seems like that's what a number of people want to do with autism, specifically Aspergers. "It's not a disorder, it's a difference" ie orientation. It's not something that needs a cure like epilepsy or cerebral palsy or schizophrenia or any mental disorder". "There should be Autism Pride Day parade".

This is my problem I think. I am back in school now. It's a private school for autism. Certain criteria has to me met to become a student there. Most if not every student is someone who has been seeing doctors, specialists and therapists their whole lives because of their autism. Just like anyone else with a significant lifelong medical condition. I've been around this my whole life.

Then I come here and in a lot of cases it's like an entirely different world of autism. Like this watered down sugarcoated abstract version of autism. I'm not saying these feelings are right. It's just I don't know for sure what to think. Especially the way I see some people downplaying autism. But then they get all upset whenever someone mentions anything about misdiagnosis or overdiagnosis or wanabes. Then all of a sudden it's something serious they suffer from, instead of the usual "it's just a difference and it's only a problem becase those damn "NT's" make it a problem".

There is vast variance in the severity of autism. For many, it's an extremely serious matter, and causes much suffering on a consistent basis. For others, it's a much less serious matter and causes suffering on a less consistent basis.

However, people with "less serious" autism, including Aspergians, frequently experience frustration because they have difficulty obtaining and maintaining employment, or in obtaining and maintaining employment commensurate with their intellectual/scholastic accomplishments. They face scorn from their families and society because of this inability. Because their disability is not evident at first glance.


All this can lead to depression and a desire to end one's life, or to drug/alcohol addiction. Then it becomes a serious matter similar to that experienced by people with more severe autism, despite the fact that their actual autistic symptoms are less severe.

One thing you can say, though: people with less serious autism, quite possibly, have more control over their lives than people with more serious autism.

In my own case, it's something I can control and work over. I don't take my own case seriously.



But itself isn't.
While anyone can always scoff off my case like a nothing, how about the others? Of course I DO take it seriously.
I've interacted so many of those from the 'lower functioning' side of the spectrum. I played with them. I made memories with them. And sometimes I personally ask and advice their parents.
So YES, I DO take it seriously.


And, there is such parade.
http://www.interaksyon.com/lifestyle/an ... rs-to-join

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I'm on the 'mild' end of the spectrum.

I don't want to be cured. That would involve completely changing who I am.

Is it serious?

It is in that it causes difficulties. I hate that I struggle so much to communicate with people, that I can't keep friends (beyond a couple now, for the first time in my life at almost 30 years old), that I am unable to deal with individuals/companies on the phone and that slight changes to plans/my environment send me into a sense of panic. It is embarrassing that as an intelligent grown woman, I get flustered and upset about things that don't even matter. I don't enjoy feeling addicted to something because of my special interest, and how that affects my life.

But would I want a cure? No. This is me.

Is it all negative? No. I am so happy with many aspects of who I am.

I would call it a disability, but not a 'serious disorder' in my case. I am an extremely happy person, living an absolutely fantastic life, so despite the difficult bits of autism I am very happy with my lot.

And if I had the choice earlier in life to either grow up autistic or not, though I probably would have thought 'why would I choose that?', if I went back now I'd still pick to grow up autistic. It's left me with an amazing life, even with the flaws and difficult bits.

The fact is, anyone can go through difficulties and hard times. Most of the people I know (NT) are significantly less happy with their lives than I am, some for 'genuine' reasons but most simply because they care about appearances or what other people are doing, or other little details that just don't matter or that they could change with a bit of effort.

Let's not pretend that I know that life would have been better without autism. In fact, in my case I'm willing to bet that it would have been worse.

We can't have absolutely everything, and I've got more than most. I don't assume that the grass is greener on the NT side.

There's stuff I read that I do not want to address directly because I think it would seem too much like a personal attack. But some of what I read just sounds like socially awkward and quirky (but also wonderfully special). I mean quite literally that's all autism amounts to with them. And again, the only thing that even makes that a problem for them are the "NT's". I mean I'm not trying to be judgmental here or pretend to diagnose. This is the way some people describe having autism.

I agree with you 100% Ezra, how something likely increased in frequency by enviromental factors does not stand with me as some natural variation. If smoking cigarettes increased rates of being gay, we would not see being gay as an orientation now would we?

Here's my take on the matter. Please don't take any of this as personal attacks because it's not meant like that.

I think that the idea of having some aspect of yourself changed in an instant by pressing a button is terrifying to most people. There was a thread a while back asking homosexual aspies if they would make themselves heterosexual if they could and the answer was overwhelmingly no. I even read a post from a guy who said that he wouldn't even change his gender dysphoria if he could because it is a part of him, and gender dysphoria is something that people have been known to commit suicide over.

I personally believe that this is quite irrational. It's great that people are fine with the way they are, but we all change over time anyway. Three years ago I was a Christian conspiracy theorist and now I'm an atheist who debunks conspiracy theories for fun. I am hardly recognizable as the same person and I'm fine with that. I see no problem with changing who I am especially if it's for the better.

A lot of people like to paint mild autism as just being social awkwardness, but it's classified as a disability for a reason. In my case I have to deal with many textures and sounds being super annoying, loud noises driving me crazy, being touch adverse, being noticeably weird to the point where people sometimes avoid me, sometimes having a bit of trouble speaking if my stress level is high, trying not to talk about my obsessions too much, socializing of any kind being mentally draining, and of course my social skills being bad enough that it causes a lot of problems. I get that a lot of people have it worse, but it is still a pretty serious hinderence in my life that I would rather not have.

Individuals with autism can have different level of functioning. For me it looks as a invisible, cunning disability, which cunningness may be special danger associated with it. I may think that autistic individual is not interested in "normal" life, he/she has "own, unique" "world" or "way of functioning".

Autism is VERY problematic in the case of finding and doing a job, earning money. Sensory problems, "stiff" thinking, being easily overwhelming by societal demands make "traditional" working for earning money something "unnatural" to an autistic individual.

Autism to me, is as serious as to me as its acceptance within western culture.

To me, it is not a disability, nor a disorder. But rather an alternate method of perceptive construct that is not understood by those whom are not. Hence it's current "understanding" within society.

Humanity is not bound by the constructs we create for ourselves (eg: morality), Autism serves as a potential wake-up call for those who choose to ignore the diversity of being human.

Autism is such a vast spectrum.

An autistic person could have such sensory issues that a helmet, by prescription, is to be worn constantly because, otherwise, he/she will break his/her skull upon walls.

Or an autistic person could be a person who is so calm (in his/her "own world") that people feel he/she acts like the Buddha.