Autism is a "mental" disorder??

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I was looking up a word in a dictionary, and I saw the definition for autism. I read it, and it defines it as a "mental" disorder. Why is that?? Its true that there are lower functioning autistics, but there are also higher functioning autistics, who are not or don't seem like they have a "mental" disorder....

In this case, the word "mental" means "psychiatric"

Because it effects mental functioning....also higher functioning autistics do have trouble functioning as well otherwise they would not be diagnosable. I think more technically though it is a neurological disorder, but also qualifies as a mental disorder.

There is not real distinction between psychologic, psychiatric and neurologic. All are caused bychanges in the brain. The classification is analytical and arbitrary.

please dont isolate and discriminate those of us with LFA just because we have obvious differences, we arent mentaly disordered any more than HFA,am able to think very clearly and dont have a disorded mind.

HFAs have a different mentality as well, autism to any level is thinking very differently to the norm hence the term mental disorder.

Your dictionary is not quite correct.

Autism is a "Pervasive Developmental Disorder".

Mental and Developmental are two very different things....

It's a pervasive developmental disorder with an impact on neurology, specifically the functioning of the central nervous system, including the brain.

The behaviors that define the disorder originate in the brain, so it is not unreasonable or somehow defamatory to call them "mental."

Mental disorder - and unusual difference in the brain causing abnormal function, often caused by external factors (trauma being an example).
Developmental Disorder - an unusual difference in the brain, characterized as showing up in early childhood and is usually untreatable.

actually external factors tend to be a factor in mental disorders, but might not cause a mental disorder by itself. For instance two people can experience the same or simular trauma and maybe only one will develop PTSD, but it probably also has some to do with their individual genetic make-up, for instance perhaps people with less of a threshold for stress are more likely to develop PTSD from trauma than someone who can handle more....but they don't know for sure all the exact factors that can cause a specific mental disorder and its possible it varies significantly between individuals

Recent studies have shown that prenatal exposures to pesticides increases autism rates. Does this external factor make it not a developmental disorder?

Schizophrenia is highly heritable. Does the clear genetic factor in schizophrenia make it not a mental illness?

Mental is not a pejorative term. It simply means pertaining to the mind. Trying to push language into shapes it doesn't naturally take in order to pursue a political agenda is not really a helpful approach, I think. Instead of trying to get people to use language in a politically acceptable way, I think you would be making better use of your time promoting acceptance of differences.

I think Intolerance is more related to not accepting behavioral difference than labels. If you change it so that everyone calls autism a cognitive gift and make the standard term for people with pdds "pegacorn," intolerant people will say "why are you so weird, what are you some kind of gifted pegacorn?" And it will be a term of abuse.

Mental is a perfectly good word. ASD is defined for most of the world in two systems, DSM and ICD10. The full name of the DSM is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. ICD10 is the International Classification of Diseases. You can argue that it isn't a disease or that it isn't mental but people will probably continue to classify it this way because it fits there better than in some other place.

True, psychiatry is deemed to be the competent medical specialty
for treating this particular group of disorders.

Uhh.... Yeah, it actually is a pejorative term. I can't agree that it's a good word. For the vast, vast, vast majority, when you say to them "Mental", they hear that as "Crazy", even if you put something on the end of it. Very easy for someone who doesn't know better to think it's mental illness. Even if it means something entirely different professionally, I don't think it's possible to clearly define AS while using the word "Mental" because people are already using that word for something else.

No, it isn't a pejorative term.

It may be in your experience. But it is not in mine.

Nor is a positive connotation limited to a tiny professional or technical class.

Mental power. Mental prowess. Mental strength. Mental agility. Mental Flexibility.

Google search results
Mental illness about 2.2 * 10^6 results
Mental Flexibilty about 3.0 * 10^6 results
Mental strength about 1.8 * 10^6 results
You can check for yourself.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mental

There is no reason to try to enforce the impoverishment of a language because a few ignorant people misuse it.

Except it's not called Mental power.

You're simply wrong about this. Words and their meanings are very plastic in nature, and won't always mean the same thing everywhere.

The common use for "Mental" is as a pejorative.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=mental

Edit: The Bear Grylls video on the page is also worth viewing.

OK, if you think Urban dictionary is an authoritative resource, I have nothing more to say about it.

Google lists 8.4 X10^8 results for "mental power"
https://www.google.com/webhp?#q=Mental%20power

A search for "mental powers" yields 5 X 10^7 results...

But what does the search engine know? If you claim I'm "simply" wrong, then it must be true.

The "Urban Dictionary" is a somewhat humorous dictionary of slang terms.