Is everyone on the spectrum "disabled"?

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I have my own thoughts on this, but I want to know what others think. Does being on the spectrum by definition mean you are disabled? Is that the most accurate term? Does it apply to everyone on the spectrum, or just some? Do you feel "disabled" accurately describes you?

I consider myself disabled, I often feel disabled and I identify as disabled. I know that many people on the Spectrum do not though. But part of the diagnostic criteria is that your traits and symptoms impair you in your regular life. And Autism is actually considered a disability. So technically yes, I think it is and that people who have the diagnosis are by definition. But each person on the Spectrum will feel disabled or not depending on how he or she views it in his or her personal life. So it is really an individual decision for how people identify with that.

I have some "disabilities" in certain things.

Honestly, though, I don't feel "disabled" in general. I feel more "different."

I've been told by people who know what they're talking about I am quite clearly impaired and always have been, as I matured I became practically extremely low functioning as my thread wore thin so to speak trynna deal with a rugged and demanding terrain of a life arc. I think the mental health problems I have alongside it have a lot of sway in how debilitating the autism can get, it's all tangled up with the autism because of the terrain my life has had with me being unaware I possessed the condition for so long. I qualify as disabled today but it was many years and soldiering on against advice trynna pretend I was fine and dandy.

Dialogues of relative ability are unhelpful. Each person, regardless of neuropsychological makeup, must understand and make the most of what abilities they have. I can do many things with great efficacy. I will not build the bridges of my life with those skills I lack.

Hmmm.......
"Disability is a contested concept, with different meanings for different communities. On the one hand, it may be used to refer to physical or mental attributes that some institutions, particularly medicine, view as needing to be fixed (the medical model); it may refer to limitations on participation in social life imposed on people by the constraints of an ableist society (the social model); or the term may serve to name a social identity claimed by people with disabilities in order to mark their shared goals and politics."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disability

I guess for me the answer is basically "yes I am." But with the first definition, all I want fixing is sensory issues and a few executive function issues, such as procrastination. And frankly I doubt it's within the wit of health professionals to do that except with experimental drugs that have adverse side effects. Nonetheless, I'd love to lose those symptoms. With the second definition, yes. With the third, I think that's a "yes" too, at least to a degree.

I wouldn't say disabled, I'd say I have challenges and impairments that go beyond that of a non autistic person. That being said I'm fairly high functioning. I can talk, walk, wipe my own butt, and feed myself (for the most part). But I have minor issues that actually do cause some issues. Such as poor self monitoring, easily distracted, extremely poor math skills ( I loose track of counting after 14), easily overwhelmed and the list goes on. I can take care of myself for the most part but some things like going to school, keeping my home clean, ect.

In my case it's simply a fact.
I'm registered as Disabled or Significant Special Needs.But I'm more of an extreme case.
I'd say if a person has not been officially labeled as disabled, they can call it as they see it.
But officially far as I know it's supposed to be a disability.

I have never considered myself disabled.

Until recently I would not have accepted that there is something wrong with my mind. I honestly thought everyone else is just batsh*t crazy.

I believe so by definition.

r00tb33r, I do not believe those two ideas are mutually exclusive. There are many things that I cannot do, but I also do not understand why people even want to do some of those things.

_________________
31st of July, 2013
Diagnosed: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Auditory-Verbal Processing Speed Disorder, and Visual-Motor Processing Speed Disorder.

Weak Emerging Social Communicator (The Social Thinking-­Social Communication Profile by Michelle Garcia Winner, Pamela Crooke and Stephanie Madrigal)

"I am silently correcting your grammar."

Some of us may be differently enabled. I am an Aspie. While being so made my childhood and youth a bit awkward and uncomfortable, in the long run it put me in the middle of computer technology where I have functioned well. It is an ill wind that does not blow someone some good sometime....

I'd say once I got uppity where I'd say "no". I had had years of therapy, I was mainstreamed, successful, undetectable... I was special.
The time period I would have been affected, was filled with music, private schooling, hobbies and monitoring by professionals and sheltered by money. Small hiccups randomly and OCD that was seen positive for the things that it was focused on.
Then I received a head injury in car accident and regressed farther than started. Did not rehab to same point that took first 10 years of my life to reach. I was no way covered for total rehab.
Now I am not as high functioning as then and 50% of my "failures" ie.; in adjustment, presentation, job interviews, adaptability, focus, stress thresholds.... are directly caused by expression of type

Technically I guess more "impaired" but it prevents ability to succeed in standard mainstream expectations.

...Yes ?

_________________
Renal kidney failure, congestive heart failure, COPD. Can't really get up from a floor position unhelped anymore:-(.
One of the walking wounded ~ SMASHED DOWN by life and age, now prevented from even expressing myself! SOB.
" Oh, no! First you have to PROVE you deserve to go away to college! " ~ My mother, 1978 (the heyday of Andy Gibb and Player). I would still like to go.
My life destroyed by Thorazine and Mellaril - and rape - and the Psychiatric/Industrial Complex. SOB:-(! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!

There are degrees of disability, just as there are different kinds of disability.

Problem solving? Yeah, I'm okay with that unless it's ...

Personal relationships. I thank God that I have a patient wife.

Written communication? It's my forte.

Verbal communication? Well ... no so much.

Physical strength? I can bench-press 200 pounds.

Agility? I once broke my dance instructor's ankle.

... and so forth ...

in the states, autism spectrum disorder is considered a 'developmental disability'. i do say i have a developmental disability as my delays & impairments do more often than not disable me in key ways. also here in the states though, being 'disabled' means that you receive government entitlements for your 'disability'. i dont receive those, but i choose to self-identify as having a 'disabling condition'.