Aspergers & Autism

Post Reply New Topic

Are they the same?

Well apparently Asperger's doesn't exist any more, and the majority of ASD people dislike any functioning labels, so now everybody on the spectrum are just autistic.

The only frustrating thing about this is that there are some of us on the spectrum who aren't Rain Man or who aren't stereotypical in any way. Whenever I read about autism, I feel like I don't qualify for autism, even though I have Asperger's and Asperger's is a form of autism. But often the symptoms listed are symptoms I haven't even got. I'm the type of ASD person who you wouldn't think I was on the spectrum if you wasn't told.
I can be highly social, make normal eye contact, enjoy social interaction, crave company, express my feelings verbally and nonverbally, able to pick up social signals and cues, understand emotions, get jokes and sarcasm...
It just makes me confused about who I am, is all.

I was told the difference between Aspergers and Autism. There isn’t that much difference what I was told was it was all to do with your speech development.

Apart from that not much difference I think Aspergers just like Autism can be mild but also can be severe. Depending on the person. With me it can be mild one minute but then next minute it shows.

From what i've understood it's the same thing but different degrees. Autism is the same as aspergers but the problems aspies have are more severe and more obvious with someone who has autism depending on where they are on the autism scale.

Yes

Aspies are a subset of Autistic people.

Depends on what psychological manual you're using.

According to the DSM-5, there's no such thing as Asperger's - only Autism Spectrum Disorder. According to the ICD-10 and the old DSM-4, Asperger's and Autism are two separate diagnoses. In the DSM-5, the Asperger's was eliminated and Autism was made a spectrum.

Most people diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome under DSM-4 or ICD-10 would be diagnosed with ASD level 1 under DSM-5.

Most people diagnosed with Autism Disorder under DSM-4 or ICD-10 would be diagnosed with ASD level 2 under DSM-5 or, in very severe cases, level 3.

In the UK Aspergers is still used. The people who diagnosed me are specifically called an Aspergers service, and all their paperwork uses this terminology. I did ask the psychologist about the distinction and she said they're gonna use up all their resources before they change names to autism!

Not strictly true. I was diagnosed, at the age of 41, on Wednesday of last week with ASD.

The clinical psychologist who made the diagnosis explained the they are working in line with DSM 5 and ICD 11 that will not include Aspergers.

She explained that I would have previously been diagnosed as having Aperger's though.

Aspergers is to autism as "the state of Iowa" is to the "United States".

Asperger's is a subdivision within the autism spectrum.

The short answer is that aspergers is the high functioning end of the autism spectrum (folks most like non autistics).

Folks who need the least support, and who also had no delay in acquiring speech as infants.

But they have been reshuffling the label cards of the autism spectrum lately. They did away with aspergers as a separate label, and its lumped into "high functioning autism" ( or "level one" autism).

I guess it varies by area within the UK as to who has moved over to just classifying as autism and who hasn't. My assessment was only 3 weeks ago.