Asperger's and Being Considered "Disabled"

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Intresting, I find it more bothersome when people think regardless of those things(outside of the blindness as I am not blind but I have autism and am mentally ill) I have an obligation to be part of 'regular' society. Well what if I don't want to?[/quote]

Explain this "obligation" to be a part of "regular society"?

Well so many people seem to be of the view that ones goal should be getting over their problems or ignoring them so they can become a functioning member of society. There is no 'I'm mentally ill' to some people only 'I used to be mentally ill.' or 'I am recovering from mental illness' are accepted. It's just the feeling I get sometimes, thing is society is part of what has made me mentally ill so why would being a part of regular society help me?

I mean, I realise I am not litterally obligated I just get the impression that is kind of the view the larger society seems to take on things. But I tend to see the dark side of things so in reality it might be less apparent than it is to me if that makes any sense.

People tend to want to fix that which they believe to be broken. Whether is is a pothole in a road, a corrupt system of government or an unhappy person, people have the urge to do something.

I think there are two questions we must ask ourselves. First, "Am I broken?" If the answer is "yes" to that question, the next question is "Do I want to be fixed?"

I just dont see how striving to be a part of regular society would help me when its that very society that helped push me to this point. I don't want to be 'fixed' I want to work with what I have. My goal is not to become non mentally ill, because I doubt that will happen...my environment would have to improve and as long as I'm stuck in this society my environment wont improve over all.

I think AS comes with exceptional abilities as well as social drawbacks. It seems to me to be a tradeoff. You get less social skills and group mentality ability, but in return you can be highly focused and an independent thinker. You can also develop unique sets of abilities thanks to spending less time socializing, but more time working on your talents.

When I did an online job application, it asked if I was disabled so I said yes and two days later I was called for a phone interview--obviously they have a quota to meet for disabled employees.

I went to an agency which helps people with disabilities find jobs and they could not find me a paying job...

Not all of society is so bad. It depends on who surrounds you. There are lots of people with negative attitudes spreading their venom, both in public and in private. But there are lots of people with positive attitudes doing something similar too.

Most people I hang out with don't exactly fit in with society either and have simular opinions about it that I do. Even so you're right it's not all bad, there is potential for better societies maybe, though at times that can be hard to see I'll admit.

If processing speed were the ultimate judge of intelligence then computers would be smarter than humans because computers can process information faster. Human intelligence is based on a neural network with intelligence based on the number of interconnections between neurons. Also an autistics ability to socialize is based on whether or not the neurotypical is tolerant of autistic behavior. If neurotypicals learn to be tolerant towards autistics it will be discovered that autistics have great social gifts.

I had the opportunity to meet John Elder Robison and he summed up how I view AS.

There are two parts of AS. There is the autistic mind, and the disability of autism.

There is nothing wrong with the autistic mind and that does not need to be cured (unless someone wants to be cured).

But there is a disability. It varies in intensity but it's there.

the OP does make a good point though, if people want it not to be a disability, would they be willing to cut off their SSDI checks?

Neurotypicals regard autism as a disability because they are intolerant of autistic people and want autistics fired from their jobs. So if that is the case autistics are entitled to their disability checks. If and when neurotypicals become more tolerant of autistics and are willing to end their employment discrimination against autistics then a disability check would no longer be required. As far as a safety net other programs would be useful such as unemployment insurance.

Disability isn't defined by the name of a disorder. I have arthritis, and while it limits me, it's not bad enough to be a disability. However there are people with much worse arthritis who are disabled by it. What determines whether something is a disability is whether it's severe enough to significantly limit what you can do.

Arthritis is a bad analogy. Autism is only a disability because society discriminates against autistics. When society stops discriminating against autistics than autism will no longer be a disability. As far as a disability checks these will not be needed because autistics will actually have greater opportunities than nuerotypicals when we live in a discrimination free society. other forms of social safety nets can be constructed that are not based on disabilities.

BS....there are still issues with communication I would have regardless of if NTs overall where more accepting. Also how is it a discrimination free society if autistics would by default have greater opportunities than neurotypicals? Also I hate to break it to you but not all of us have some great talent going for us or super genius brains so stop categorizing us all as a bunch of superior beings.

This is the great challenge of accommodations. How do you level the playing field and avoid giving an upper hand to one group?

I don't know I'd prefer to just avoid the 'playing' field anyways.