Aspergers isn't a thing anymore

[Harmonic Revelations 8,835]

Probably old news, but I found it interesting and couldn't find a thread on it already so here it is.

 

It is now official that Aspergers is no longer a thing, instead it will by default be classified as High-Functioning Autism. Studies have shown however that anywhere between 10 and 75 percent of those with Aspergers fail to meet the new criteria.

 

Another change this entails is that doctors can diagnose based on somebody's history of behavior rather than their behavior at the time of diagnosis. This is good because it means that with therapy if the symptoms lessen it won't exclude those with the disorder from medical benefits like it would before this change.

 

I find this interesting for many reasons, and wanted to hear your thoughts on it. While it's an older article, many people still do not support the switch of diagnosis.

 

Thoughts?

Edited September 18, 2013 by Harmonic Revelations

[Rainbow Skywalker 642]

When I first saw the title I thought it meant that Aspergers just wasn't popular anymore XP

 

Anyway, yeah that's mighty strange that they would even do something like that.  I don't see much of a benefit to it other than being able to dumb it down for census forms.  Beats me.

[Nah 3,182]

As an Aspie myself, I'm not really affected by it, however I don't know how others would react to it, I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

[Scootalove 10,689]

I don't exactly remember it being a thing but, it's pretty sad where people make fun of people with autism and Aspergers. That's all that I have for now.

[Jadefire 2,797]

Talk about a misleading title.

 

I was originally diagnosed with Asperger's disorder, before a more professional psychiatrist authority diagnosed me with High-Functioning Autsim instead. The two disorders are more-or-less identical, with Asperger's having slightly different symptoms.

 

I'm not quite sure what to make of this article, as it makes it sound like they're lumping a bunch of different disorders into a single disorder only for convenience.

[Toon Richard 534]

Probably old news, but I found it interesting and couldn't find a thread on it already so here it is.

 

It is now official that Aspergers is no longer a thing, instead it will by default be classified as High-Functioning Autism. Studies have shown however that anywhere between 10 and 75 percent of those with Aspergers fail to meet the new criteria.

 

Another change this entails is that doctors can diagnose based on somebody's history of behavior rather than their behavior at the time of diagnosis. This is good because it means that with therapy if the symptoms lessen it won't exclude those with the disorder from medical benefits like it would before this change.

 

I find this interesting for many reasons, and wanted to hear your thoughts on it. While it's an older article, many people still do not support the switch of diagnosis.

 

Thoughts?

A whoopdie do.

Seriously goverment?!

STOP MAKING CHANGES THAT WILL GET YOU HATED!

Anyways.

I dont approve of this no way no how.

[AdmiralZeratul 156]

You may be surprised to know that I have Aspergers myself. Quite frankly, I find this decision of theirs to be patently ridiculous. Like the good Bifrost said, lumping different disorders together is a bad idea.

 

I don't know about you, but as for me, I don't care what they say. An Aspie I am, and an Aspie I always will be!

[FoxyCryptid 4,330]

As someone who does legally have it(and diagnosed by a teacher and well respected doctors)...

 

I have to agree with some of the points the article makes, way to many people DO try and use it as a get-out-of-jail free card by acting like assholes and then using it as an excuse. It bugs me to no end because I even had teachers that assumed that's how I was going to act because it's what they were told. I'm actually quite the opposite, and despite the facade I seem to put up at times around here and my "questionable" sense of humor I actually border on having to much empathy and sometimes get scared to death of what people might think of me as much as I try to hide it and ignore it. I'm also quite capable of feeling very strong emotions(especially now that ponies have softened me a little and brought me out of some of my emotional repression).

Edited September 19, 2013 by Shoboni

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,467]

Fellow Aspie here and I was hearing about this, had no idea that it was in affect. When I went to a medical professional (actually multiple) a couple of years ago for my SSI thing (social security income), they said that I was one of those cases where it would be better if the term was dropped. They said the reasoning was because a lot of people apparently underestimate the word Aspergers itself, contrary to when they hear the word 'autism' when they freak out and take immediate precautions. I guess my case is one of the more severe variety according to them.

 

This change in term doesn't affect me. I will still consider myself an Aspie though, I am used to that term by this point.

Edited September 18, 2013 by Kyoshi

[GhostPony750 959]

It's awesome to be an aspergus!

 

Well, sincerely, what is this going to change? They found another name for the same disease, if it is actually a disease.

 

But well, personally, these "aspergers" are still normal people to me, I still talk to them without any problems. And sometimes they even seem more interesting to me, since they tend to remain themselves.

[Misty Shadow 7,867]

Even though I was never diagnosed, and in spite of (most of) my family's insistence, I feel that I have some form of autism. I have deplorable speaking, social, and memory skills, I enjoy just pacing around and doing nothing a lot of the time, and I often have to push myself to feel concern for other people (I'm horrible). So yeah...I guess I can knock Asperger's off my list.

[~Silver Essence~ 2,625]

Interesting, I never knew about this until now.

 

I guess that's great, because aspergers is often confused with other symptoms like depression.

[DarkestStar 31]

This is a very good point. A lot of people who have aspergers are also considered "savants" who are extremely talented in the arts (writing, painting, sculpture, music) however has disabilities elsewhere. It is, in essence, a very high functioning form of autism. I cannot say I have it myself, but it's a subject I'm interested in.

[Thunderchild 875]

As someone who doesn't have the disorder, but who has heard of it in t.v shows and such-I was always under the impression that Asperger's syndrome was already classified as high functioning Autism and vice versa.

 

I guess the bureaucrats haven't got too much else on their plates at the moment-what with us on the brink of another war and all.

Nice to see our tax dollars at work.

[Shanks 10,816]

I was diagnosed at age 2 with low functioning Autism after losing what little language I had (I regained it at age 5) and exhibiting severe behavioral problems and sensitivities to certain sensations like touch and sound. Through years of therapies and interventions I have advanced to the point where my symptoms are much closer to what people think of when they think of "Aspergers" than what people think of when they think of "Autism." So the whole thing about Autism and Aspergers is a lot more complicated than people realize because there is so much overlap between the two that I have always seen Autism and Aspergers as part of Autism spectrum which is a very diverse and complex ranging in cases from mild to severe so I often used the terms "high functioning Autism" and "Aspergers" interchangeably to describe myself.

 

With that said though I am still not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing yet, it could be a good thing because it could allow more people who may have previously not met the definition of "Autism" to actually get some support. On the other hand though it could also just be an effort to just create a top down approach by treating every case as the same which would be a huge step backwards. It is clear that people with Autism and their families that are able to have an important responsibility to educate the public as there are so many misconceptions the general public has which can be very devastating. People like myself used to be thrown into insititutions and drugged up for the rest of our lives but though we have come a long way I think we can still do better.

Edited September 19, 2013 by EarthbendingProdigy

[ChoroChii 284]

People seem to be overreacting to this a bit. It hasn't really affected anybody much, has it? I think people are mostly just afraid of change but correct me if I'm wrong.

[Shanks 10,816]

People seem to be overreacting to this a bit. It hasn't really affected anybody much, has it? I think people are mostly just afraid of change but correct me if I'm wrong.

These sort of changes could potentially mean the difference between getting help or not getting help for millions of people on the Autism spectrum who were once considered to have Aspergers. Granted there is a bit of semantics to it but that unfortunetely is how social services works even the slightest change in terms or wording could mean that people helped or screwed over. Even though I have been diagnosed as low functioning Autistic which as I have explained in my last post was inaccurate not because I didn't have Autism but because it wasn't as grim of a picture as the doctor thought it was. Because of my diagnosis alot of people would have given up hope on me and would have put me in an institution which is exactly what the doctor who diagnosed me recommended.

 

Because of this attitude and the fact that people knew significantly less about Autism than they do now it was a real struggle for my parents to get me the right help. Fast forward to my teen years and my parents still had to fight tooth and nail but not because I was a lost cause but because I "seemed normal." Fast forward to my adult years and I have gone a number of years with problems I still struggle with even though I have made some more successes. After alot of Autistic people become adults they get left through the cracks which is a serious problem. Luckily I found this one program which helps Autistic adults with a wide variety of issues and I am using it to go back to school and to help launch my future career as an author.

 

There have been changes some of them positive like more public awareness for example, but there have also been some changes the other way as well. Since the economy is taking a nose dive alot of things are getting cut while the special interest gravy train just keeps on rolling alot of people with special needs are extremely vulnerable during this time. My father who was a dialysis patient spent the last few months of his life fighting to keep his Medicare which was paying for his dialysis which was keeping him alive. They made him give up his life insurance and a few other things or face paying 600 dollars a month which he couldn't afford. His body has been deteriorating for a few years but I have no doubt that the stress of this shortened his life by at least a year or two.

[Radiance64 7,053]

That's interesting I guess, dunno much about the subject but I suppose in the end they can call it what they wanna call it. How much of a difference is there between Aspergers and Autism anyway? I'm honestly not too sure, people with Aspergers seem to be perfectly normal though.

[Zygen 6,066]

I personally am not affected by either autism or aspergers, so it doesn't affect me personally.

 

Honestly i think most people get aspergers and autism confused, or they just don't really understand what it is actually.

 

They are pretty closely related though, so having it merge into autism more(Or atleast thats what i got from my understanding of this thread) seems fine i guess, it doesn't seem like it'll change much really, like whatever you call is its still not changing how the people affected by it are.

 

Thinking about that it may come off as offensive, so i would just like to say that I have absolutely nothing against anyone with any disorders especially Autism or Aspergers. The only thing i have is respect.

 

But regardless, calling it something else i don't see how it will affect much.

 

I dunno, i'm not really an expert on this, maybe i'll have to do some research now...

[MichaelxXxTrixie 433]

I might be compelled to agree with this change, but I've not done to much research on the subject.

 

I've met both Aspies and Autistic people, to be honest I didn't notice all too much of a difference. I didn't know they had any form of a disorder in the first place and just were "Different" people.

 

Not to long ago they tried to diagnose me with a disorder. Turns out I have none, I refused to believe I had one no-matter what some peoples opinions were. The truth is some people use disorders as excuses when they don't really have them. So really that's my only run-in with anything disorder related.

[Batbrony 16,055]

Having never had Aspergers myself nor knowing real closely anyone who does, I'm not really affected by this nor can I really share any insight into these changes.  However, I will say that if this change does medically and financially help those with Aspergers more (i.e. higher quality medical service in the long term in that doctors take certain aspects of medical history into account that they might not have before, better benefits, etc.) in the long term, then hey, I'm all for it.  Interesting article Harmonic, thanks very much for sharing. 

[Paianis 489]

I am an aspie, and I don't really care. I mean, back when I was between 5 and 11 years old it was pretty obvious and anyone could be with me and be conscious of it. But since then it's all died down and people can accept me in the same way as anyone been slightly different to anybody. When it comes to undesirable work I still have a tendency to put my hooves in a dodgy position, but in many ways that makes me proud of who I am, someone who isn't prepared to accept lackluster 'services' or just to simply act like sheep. But it does make me different to bond with without looking behind the cover. I also prefer evolution of my life choices rather than revolution, unless it's something I've been waiting for a very long time.

 

Wait? This isn't about the article is it. Oh forget it, I hope it was a decent read.

[ChoroChii 284]

I would just like to point out that 1 in 88 children do not have Autism. I don't believe it's risen up so far in the past few years, what I do believe is that it's been over-diagnosed and a lot of these people who say they have autism, proooobably don't. People are often strange, have social awkwardness, and have difficulties in school and social situations. Slapping autism onto them is only putting in a label and using drugs and special treatment to make them feel safe and special. I'm saying this because I don't think it's really too big a deal that the terms have changed. I think it's a good thing, in fact because now we won't have so many people living off of social security checks. Maybe, I think. 

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

Eeyup, knew this was comin'. Was in a social group for young men like me who have Aspergers  Was the saddest thing we heard that day. Now the hate and humiliation towards us will increase, but we'll remain strong. 

[lolololol 65]

They are basically the same thing anyway. you aspies shouldn't get hindblasted about it. its not a big deal at all. HFA = ASPERGERS

 

btw I was misdiagnosed with autism I had ADHD instead

Edited September 29, 2013 by Returnsfornoreason