I Am Autism - The War On Autism

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This definition of disease, as you are trying to apply it to autism, supposes that we clearly know the "normal" structure and function of all parts of the brain. That is not so. The brain and the body are much more diverse than what the "average" (normal) person is comfortable with and what we know is only the begining. Words have meanings but the meanings change and are not the same as the thing itself. Hysteria used to be a "disease" as did homosexuality as someone else mentioned. "Diseases" involving mental states and behaviors outside the average should be regarded very suspiciously, IMO. Also, the study you cited only states authoratativly that autism is a disease, it offers no proof for that claim. And Retts syndrome and autism are not the same thing according to the Retts site I just looked at. Retts leads to an early death, is genetic and only affects females. This study seems to say only that neruons from Rett people could be grown in culture and some intervention could cause them to develop differently. Of course the authors of the study might want to overreach their conculsions to imagine that they will discover the cure for autism.

Exactly what I thought. Without looking it up I'm pretty sure Retts, like Fragile X and Angleman syndrome is a disease with a clearly known genetic cause. No one knows the cause of Autism so these ponderings seem to be a bunch of assumptions, or perhaps I am misunderstanding that quoted excerpt.
To my mind Autism is a disability (in the pure sense of the word i.e. dis-ability, rather than the general negative connotation the word disability has taken on).

I think autism is not one thing exactly and later will be understood despite others opposition to research to protect there autism identity. If someone in self-advocacy did not have developmental delays I think they should be separate in advocacy then people with more severe abilities. Also with regards to the terminology of disease it is simply a word and will later be figured out aside from simple behavior concepts.

Folks spend more time arguing about silly words then improving the lives of those who are more in need of help. Also if you think of autism as a identity I think allot of this insult is brought upon you yourself. As for I am Autism most of the mainstream would have a problem with the video but also some parents with children with very severe autism they would sympathize with despite the at times higher functioning people claiming oh the pity and how insulting it is when they are utterly ignorant of the struggles and so very self-centered in ego. It's not all about you and please just get over it.