Posted on 02/13/2010 4:28:39 PM PST by neverdem
IF you ask my daughter, Isabel, what autism means to her, she won’t say that it is a condition marked by impaired social communication and repetitive behaviors. She will say that her autism makes her a good artist, helps her to relate to animals and gives her perfect pitch.
The stigma of autism is fading fast. One reason is that we now understand that autism is a spectrum with an enormous range. Some people with autism are nonverbal with profound cognitive disabilities, while others are accomplished professionals.
Many people with milder symptoms of autism have, for the past 20 years or so, received a diagnosis of Asperger’s disorder. Some autistic adults call themselves “Aspies” to celebrate their talents and differences. And many parents have embraced the label because they have found it less stigmatizing, and so it has eased their sense of loss.
This may soon change, however. The American Psychiatric Association, with its release this week of proposed revisions to its authoritative Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, is recommending that Asperger’s be dropped. If this revision is adopted, the condition will be folded into the category of “autism spectrum disorder,” which will no longer contain any categories for distinct subtypes of autism like Asperger’s and “pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified” (a category for children with some traits of autism but not enough to warrant a diagnosis).
The change is welcome, because careful study of people with Asperger’s has demonstrated that the diagnosis is misleading and invalid, and there are clear benefits to understanding autism as one condition that runs along a spectrum...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
There’s always a brouhaha when the DSM gets revised and categories altered. This, too, shall pass.
Meaning what really?
I guy who worked for me died recently because of caused by his Aspergers.
Aren’t these the same folks that have other questionable recommendations.
If they’re going to get rid of Asperger’s syndrome, they should get rid of Schizoid personality disorder, since schizoid is the mildest form of schizophrenia and is the mildest part of a spectrum much like Autism.
You mean like same sex attraction?
In other news, Pluto has completed 1.40045658857714 percent of it’s orbit around the sun since it was declared to be “not a planet” on August 24, 2006.
It seems to me as if the tendency has been to postulate a "light" form of whatever the pathology du jour happens to be, to cover the asses of those who need an excuse for some kind of untoward behavior but don't quite come up to the criteria for the "full" version.
Everything is a spectrum. We are all on it somewhere.
No one is completely rational. We all have our moments, at least. It’s just a matter of scale.
The problem is the pharmaceutical companies have their two cents worth as far as picking DSM criteria. Its all bullshit.
In order to deal with the rather ‘insane’ world around us, it helps to be a little ‘insane’.
Yep. Especially since it seems apparent that you can cure yourself of Asperger's by just getting laid.
mark
I was about to post something along the same lines in reference to Pluto because this is essentially the same nominal exercise. This would be like saying “The biological label of ‘Death’ is being removed in recognition that there exist, between conception and full decomposition, a full spectrum of political involvement.”
lol!
It would make more sense to add them than to drop Asperger's.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
True, at certain points being all calm and cheerful seems a bit nuts.
I think it is also strange that at least partially crazy people are the ones deciding whether other partially crazy people are crazy. Who’s psychoanalyzing the psychoanalysts?
Yep. Especially since it seems apparent that you can cure yourself of Asperger’s by just getting laid.
****
Are you serious? I truly don’t know when people are kidding me any more.
My husband and son have Asperger’s. Agreed that we all have issues. Asperger’s is a neurological disorder of the frontal lobe. In other words, it is a physical impairment that prevents people with the condition from perceiving meaning that most people (neurotypicals) understand without even thinking about it. When my son was being diagnosed, the psychologist asked what he was happy about. Son, “I’m not happy.” Dr, “I see you sparkling eyes, your dimples, your broad smile, and you look happy. Is there something you’re happy about?” Son: “I didn’t know I was smiling.”
She handed him a handout that described what people typically look like when they’re feeling different emotions. My son (16) grabbed it, said, “This is GREAT!” took it home and studied it. My son can’t read people, does not realize what he is feeling, and does not realize how what is saying or doing affect others. It’s a difficult disorder to live with. Divorce rates for Neurotypicals married to Aspies is estimated to be above 80%. And I think that’s low. I don’t have an opinion about the label, but I live with Asperger’s, and it’s not a joke.
I have two teenage boys with Aspergers and a flock of associated stuff. Sometimes my wife and I want to run away.
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