Do you believe that Aspergers is a mild form of autism?

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I personally don’t. I believe I’m as autistic as it gets, but don’t have an additional learning disability. Always seems strange to me that people see the more able people on the spectrum as being less autistic. What’s your view?

I personally don't like to quantify types of autism as "mild" or "severe". People with Asperger's may be more verbal and have normal intelligence, but they might struggle just as much or even more with socializing or meltdowns or obsessiveness/anxiety, etc. To call it "mild" because it seems so on the outside can downplay the struggles we face.

I don't like thinking that Asperger's is autism because whenever autism is explained (even by other autistic people on WP) it always says what I am not; lack of interest in people, lack of empathy, unable to express emotions, logical thinkers, good ability to focus, can't read body language, and so on. And as a person with Asperger's, I feel I am eccentric, emotionally expressive, empathetic, socially orientated, hyper, good at following conversations, can read body language, and during a 'meltdown' I prefer to be around people and being touched.

It's also possible that there may not be such a great difference in objective degree of autism, but some people have more success at building communication bridges to the human world, so their condition is perceived as less "severe".

I think Asperger's is like a fad disorder.

It's an interesting question. I think, even within Asperger's, there are multiple spectrums for different traits, and I don't want to downplay any of them. It's absolutely true that, given that people with Asperger's / High Functioning Autism do tend to have quite difficult struggles, and one of the very big frustrations that we tend to have is that, since we are high functioning, people tend to not believe that we do have difficulties.

On the other hand, I look at some of the videos of people with level 3 autism and I can't deny that they do have it worse than we do. Yes, people look at them and immediately understand that they have difficulties, but I can't deny that their difficulties are way worse worse than mine.

I don't think I'd use the word "mild" because that tends to imply that it should be easy to deal with. But at the same time, I do think that level 3 Autism is definitely more severe than level 1.

I agree with Historygal. Asperger's is the lastest trendy diagnosis. Before that, ADHD was trendy.

From the title it impossible to tell whether you are asking if "aspergers is a MILD form of autism", or whether it's a "mild form of AUTISM?".

Apparently you're asking the first question, though some might think that it's the other question.

I don't see why the answer to both question is not "yes". It is a form of autism, but folks so afflictated tend to blend in to society better than do level three autistics, so its a watered down less conspicuous form of autism. So it is mild.

I agree with naturalplastic's sentiment of observing why the distinctions in the definitions were made in the first place. We can all acknowledge that all struggles are different and that it feels like it may be an invalidation of your own struggle to label it as mild; in another thread, it was said that though it is mild, I do not feel it mildly. The burden of articulating the difficulties then falls to the Aspie seeking resources which is why everyone is truly frustrated. The only advice I can offer is try to document things as well as you can for your psychiatrist so that if you can't articulate it in session, then they have your thoughts down to try to form an understanding. Try the best you can to cooperate. Then you know you've done all you can do in that regard. Don't entertain those who consistently either exaggerate or minimize your struggles.

Aspergers is just considered High Functioning Autism now anyway.

"severe" and "mild" like functioning labels are imperfect ways of categorizing Autism. "Severe" and "Mild" are arguably less bad than functioning labels because it is trying to measure the condition itself rather than how well one fits in.

Making my way up to aspergers level of function is what I'm striving to achieve.

This is very much true. And I would encourage anyone to buy Tony Attwood's book on Asperger's Syndrome because he is considered the foremost authority in the world. I believe he's Australian and I bought his book at Chapters at the local mall. This man is a genius and has a very intimate knowledge of Asperger's Syndrome which even by him is considered a mild form of Autism.

But Autistic nonetheless.

I was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome however I feel more autistic than people that're mediatic-ly Aspergers. It feels like everybody who is a little quirky and socially awkward can call them an aspie. I can't do the masking thing or passing that Aspies do. I do hiding sometimes (literally hiding myself when I appear more autistic) but mostly not effectively (putting on a hood and covering your face with your hands or hiding under the coffee table apparently makes you look even more autistic).
In short I like to think that I have a mild form of autism instead of Aspergers, even if Aspergers IS considered a mild form of autism. I can talk, I have above average intelligence and I can live alone. These things make my autism milder however the rest of the list is quite similar to a person with severe autism.

Thing is it’s all subjective, and like pain depends on the individual.
Also I think the terms ‘mild’ and ‘severe’ in terms of autism can be useful inside the autistic spectrum, the problem is outside the spectrum where NT’s perceive ‘mild autism’ as something that shouldn’t affect your everyday life, but obviously they don’t understand.
I could be considered very successful for someone on the spectrum but I don’t feel like it, I struggle on a daily basis but nobody around me realised how much because I’ve either learned to cope so well or I just don’t let on and bottle it all up and I let it all out in private.

I can see how people on the spectrum could be insulted at the terms ‘mild’ and ‘severe’ but in context someone who is ASD level 1 has ‘milder’ (appearing) symptoms to someone who is ASD level 3.
Having said that I think it’s no different to people claiming that Aspergers is a fad or somehow a fake condition - yes there are a lot of people out there who might claim to have AS with no medical back-up, but this shouldn’t detract from the fact that people who have it do struggle, some more than others - and simply put most people cannot begin to understand or relate to the problems we have being autistic.

I think bashing Aspergers as a condition is wrong, and there needs to be more awareness in the NT world that being ‘mildly’ autistic (or being on the more functional end of the spectrum) still poses great problems to the individual, normally at the expense of stress or energy.

When I was at school, half of the kids had a dyslexia diagnosis because it relieved them from obligation to learn orthography.
My spouse got his dyslexia diagnosis the exact day he won a school orthography competition.
Does it mean dyslexia does not exist?
Ask this question to my friend, who did all the exercises prescribed for dyslexia, reads a lot, earned PhD in nuclear physics and still can't remember the easiest spellings.
My MiL's brother hardly finished primary school because he couldn't learn correct spelling. His teachers believed he was simply an idiot. He wasn't, but dyslexia was unknown in his time.