Disorder or Difference?

Post Reply New Topic

Hi-

I am new to this DX as well as the debate as to if this is a disorder or a difference.

Do you feel this is disorder or a difference?

I a beginning to think it is a difference and what to embrace that aspect.

I am concerned that there are those who not only want to cure this but to nip in before it has a chance to see the light.

And if it is a difference, why are so many on medication? Maybe because we might have depression separate from autism?

I might go on something for things aside from autism, but I would not take anythign for autism because I am not sure it is a disease.

Anyway, I am working through this and would like to know more about how you all feel on here.

I'm sure this debate has been raised, but I would like to know more.

Thanks,
Sorenna

Aspergers is considered a disorder because it is outside what has previously been accepted as the norm.

I'm sure the first fish to grow legs and wander out of the ocean would have been considered to be suffering from some sort of disorder. Thats the odd thing about evolution. We caint see the results as they happen, only as they happened in the past.

I caint change having Aspergers, and I don't think I would even if I could. Yea, not being able to make true friends easily kinda sucks, but it's also given me the chance to sit down and improve who I really am, not just who others preceive me to be.

Disorder for me.

Probably because I'd like to do things that I can't do in the same way (or at all) due to being on the spectrum.

I love talking a lot mixing with people for fun (not for serious debate), but I find myself having trouble talking and I can't just go to every party because there's a sensory overload. I don't want to be rejected all the time just for sending out freak signals and untrue non-verbal messages due to AS. I also don't want to stick to routines, structure my day to function in the chaos - I want to do things spontaneously, I love to seek out new things and just go on a date, in, say, five minutes by just grabbing my shoes and jacket and going out. These are the biggest issues I think.

I mean, it's a difference for sure, disorder or not. Everyone's different and the spectrum is just a bigger difference with a name.

I talked to some people who have personalities that just fit well with the symptoms of AS. There are many people - ASD or not - who like to spend time alone, like it laid-back and try to avoid big social events, etc. So I guess it's possible to have a strong symptom, but not feel bothered by it if everything goes the way the person wants it to be. Because personalities are also really diverse.

But mine doesn't fit my symptoms. I feel my personality at battle with my AS. It tried to limit me effectively. I don't hate my AS, but my personality sure makes me feel at odds with it. And I personally don't want to change my personality, which I like, to fit my disorder.

And that's why I think in my case it's a disorder. There's impairment - other people or not, I don't care about them. It's all about what I want to be.

It is a DIFFERENCE!

NOBODY is on medication for AS. MAYBE certain related things, like trying to relieve stress, etc... but not actually for AS. The stress is often because of ideals PUSHED on them, or crowding. HECK, if I pushed MY ideals on NTs, they would go NUTS! Try telling cooks to wash their hands, even before putting gloves on, and not preparing food, after wiping a work area with their gloves/hands, until the wash. I GUARANTEE they will argue, etc... They may even do WORSE! I am not in a position of power, so the best I can do is try to avoid such things.

Depression is almost a given if you don't fit in and can't live the "normal" way. Odd, my chemical depression seemed to disappear when I found out about AS. I attribute this to simply recognizing my newer interests and giving them time NO MATTER WHAT! Before, work or whatever might get in the way and I got depressed for no apparent reason.

It doesn't seem to be much of a debate here. Some feel they see no benefits, and are hit hard by the problems, and will stress disorder, but I think most of the rest feel differently.

It is classified as a disorder although i much prefer da word difference as it sounds more positive where as disorder sounds negative 2 me.

Well, we are indisputably different, so yes to that. As to disorder, 2unkerkerl made a good point- we struggle because we are having ideals that are not our own pushed on us. A world run by our standards would make NTs miserable and they would be seen as dysfunctional.

Baron-Cohen and Attwood have endorsed somewhat similar views to this- that autism/Asperger's is disabling or a disorder only in certain contexts that do not favor those specific traits. In other settings, Asperger's can even be an advantage.

So the issue isn't really one of whether Aspies and Auties are inherently disordered, but rather, as with everyone else, what setting we are in determines how well we can function. If you take an engineer and try to make him work as a surgeon, he will not function well in that capacity. Same if you assign a surgeon to design a bridge. It's all a matter of context as to whether someone is able to do the things they need to do.

To me, AS is just another way of being. Sure it is a disability sometimes, otherwise we wouldn't get the diagnosis. But I think NT's are just as disabled, most of them don't know about it. Because the world is built so that they aren't handicaps.

I mean being left-handed can be a disability if you want. Not a very severe one these days, though there was a time when it was treated like a disorder. But it's still a disadvantage in some cases. Like it may be harder to write (at least in this part of the world) if you're left handed. And tools are usually designed for right-handed people. But objectively, you can't say there is anything wrong with left handed people, they just are a minority, so the world's not made for them. If right handed people were a minoroty. they would be the disabled ones. Same thing goes for Aspergers. It's just a severe form of left-handedness.

It's both, but I would put it as a disorder because of the fact that the negatives about it far outweigh the positives. There are problems involved with it, and people who say otherwise just don't want to admit that they have problems.

How do you know? They must have had a problem with it to get a diagnosis. But some people may not have that much trouble with it anymore. How do you know that's no the case? Who are you to tell others how much problems they have?

But that analogy assumes that it's not possible that AS is just a pattern of symptoms that can go against natural personality and that it can be disabling the person as a whole no matter whether the environment is ASD friendly or not.

I think it would be a better analogy to say that AS is like chopping someone's left hand off. When they're right-handed that's likely a lot better than if they are left-handed. Because no they only can use their right hand any more.

I'm kinda in the position that both ASD and non-autistic environment are pretty useless/disabling to me, unless environment is made to fit specifically me alone.

It is a difference that needs to be treated as if it was a disorder.

People with AS have extreme difficulty funtcioning in our society. If we want to sit in our rooms and have no friends, no career, and no family, then it is ok to be the way we are.

Otherwise, we need to make the effort to change.

Then I think that NT's have their metaphorical right hand chopped off, and the world is just made for people without a right hand.

Maybe that doesn't work either. So I'll stop being metaphorical. But Ithen I believe that it is possible that NT is just a pattern of symptoms that can go against natural personality. NT is just a much more common syndrome. That's why it isn't disabling. I think that most people are disordered in some way. But it's nothing I can prove or disprove. So I guess it's just like a philosophy or religion to me. Hard to come to any conclusion about it, really.

it can be either or both,it depends on a lot of things,but none of the ASDs can be said to be only either.
am experience autism in very disabling and different ways and like sora has said,in ways that wouldnt be helped just by changing things,but am also have differences,autists with any level of autism,pddnos,cdd,as... etc have differences as part of the deal as well.
aspies or mild pddnosers who think their form is only a difference need to be around aspies who live in residential homes and institutions to understand how bad it can get.

I feel that it's more of a difference, than a disorder.