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kueijin1's comments:
on No More Asperger's?
Einstein typically gets pegged retroactively as Autistic, Asperger's, and/or the MBTI type "INTP." Since he had an early speech delay, my best guess is that he might have been diagnosed "HFA" in the modern world. But ultimately his achievements forced society to acknowledge Einstein's worth and ability. It's hard for me to imagine someone who was so involved in practical work taking the time to seek and publicize a diagnosis.
If anything, in my opinion the example of Einstein points toward the advantages of remaining "closeted."
posted 3 years, 3 months ago
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on No More Asperger's?
Although I don't think there's anything wrong with left-handed people, I'm not so sure about the accuracy of your assertions.
posted 3 years, 3 months ago
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on No More Asperger's?
I found your post very interesting and think that the way you describe having to treat the same thing in two different ways depending on the situation really points to the main problem.
posted 3 years, 3 months ago
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on No More Asperger's?
I don't know why, but it certainly is true. I suspect that there has partially been a shift in our society toward defining characteristics typical of young boys as aberrant and idealizing certain characteristics typical of young girls. Something is definitely really there that results in the concepts of ADD, Autism, and Asperger's, but along with that I think we've become more biased in that direction than we used to be.
posted 3 years, 3 months ago
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on No More Asperger's?
It's a real shame that so much emphasis is placed on language delay, because frankly when you're 25 years old it makes no difference at all whether you started speaking at the age of 2 or 5. Personally I think HFA and Asperger's are very likely the same thing or nearly the same thing. I just don't think "Autism" is the most appropriate label for it.
posted 3 years, 3 months ago
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on No More Asperger's?
The only character I can think of who appeared on TV that clearly had Asperger's is Spock. :P
posted 3 years, 3 months ago
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on No More Asperger's?
That's a completely valid point, but it doesn't change the fact that it will take Joe Public 20-50 years to figure it out. And we have to deal with Joe Public tomorrow and the next day.
In addition to the false impressions it will give him of people with Asperger's, eventually he will come to have false impressions about Autistic people.
posted 3 years, 3 months ago
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on No More Asperger's?
Scott,
I can't change the world. My biggest negative concern is how the world will treat my son if they view him as "Autistic" and to a lesser extent how it would treat me if I chose to seek a diagnosis later on. I think it would cause him needless pain and more than that, it would subject him to even more misunderstandings. On a day to day level these decisions aren't always admistered by people who understand every nuance of what the DSM intends. More often I see educators who already talk about my "artistic" son and already equate the two conditions.
Next my question is where's the benefit? We could be qualified for an additional range of services in some cases, but I've always viewed the end goal as mainstreaming and living as successful of a life as possible. So I hesitate over jumping for joy at the prospect of my son more or less wallowing in additional services that might make his life less stressful, but that strictly speaking he could do without. If I thought of anything about our lives that this decision would make better, then maybe I would resist it less. But I can't.
Also a technicality -- neither Autism nor Asperger's is a disease.
Depression is an interesting example and something I have some experience with. It is clear to me that society treats the suicidally depressed very differently than it treats people who manage to live normal lives with bouts of sadness and anxiety that are difficult to bear, but that don't result in suicidal ideation or an inability to hold a job.
And about "pride"... is it pride? I have to admit that yes, maybe it is partially about pride. But why shouldn't it be? After some 20 years of developing and using coping strategies to get through life, I guess I feel entitled to feel different than someone who constantly self stems and seems oblivious to the world around them. We all have commonalities and these people deserve our respect and compassion as human beings. But I don't see how it's in any way respectful to pretend to be like them when you're not. It's not a hateful opinion. I would like to help them. But I'm no more the same as them as anyone else in society who successfully gets by from day to day.
- Kory
posted 3 years, 3 months ago
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on No More Asperger's?
Absolutely. There are many reasons. For example, the US goverment is quite likely to deny a security clearance to someone diagnosed with Asperger's.
The only reason I know I have Asperger's without any doubt is the experience of raising my son, who does have a diagnosis.
posted 3 years, 3 months ago
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on No More Asperger's?
I'm a huge believer in learned coping strategies over any form of medication. I would physically fight someone before I let them medicate my son and the suggestion has come up quite often, especially when he was younger. But ultimately how you raise you child is your business.
posted 3 years, 3 months ago
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on No More Asperger's?
It's not about retardation. I see that most of the arguments in the media, not just your post, tend to dismiss our concerns as motivated by ego or other frivolous concerns. The one that shocked me the most was basically, "Autistic people resist change, so of course this bothers them."
I don't have anything against anyone who suffers from any condition. But objectively when I look at someone who's autistic and incapable of functioning as an adult -- my belief about that person is that they have something different than what I have. It is true that I don't care about accuracy to the extent that if we share a common imbalance in our brain chemistry or something, I don't feel that is the most pertinent thing to focus on.
Is there a reason I should want to be associated with these people? Would it be good for them or me? Do you want to be associated with these people?
I don't understand why so many people write off our concerns as motivated by ignorance or egotism. And Asperger's is not an excuse for who we are, either. In fact, I think you really have to kind of hide it and pretend to be normal in order to function in the real world. That's how I've lived my life and how I raise my son, although it is helpful to know exactly what you're hiding, fighting, coping with, however you want to put it.
And that's really the crux of it -- people with "low functioning autism" can't function in the real world. Why should people who do function, albeit with stressors that deviate from the norm of society, be considered with them? We also typically have advantages that differ from the norm of society.
For every story I could tell you about becoming hopelessly lost while following apparently simple directions, I could also tell you about some time I creatively solved a problem through applied nonlinear thinking.
What this whole situation really tempts me to do is tell my son, "Forget it, you no longer have Asperger's. Don't ever talk about that again."
posted 3 years, 3 months ago
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on No More Asperger's?
I give the same lecture to my son... so not really. The only thing I try to do is reframe it in terms of, "If you want to be successful in the world, then you will have to do (whatever it is)." "If you don't want to repeat a year of high school, then you have to get the required number of credits to graduate."
In other words, I guess I try to be mainly factual in my approach and include mention of the consequences or rewards for whatever the action is.
posted 3 years, 3 months ago
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on No More Asperger's?
There seems to be a running theme here that most people with Asperger's think this is a terrible idea and most Psychiatrists think it's a great idea. I'd like to think that will make them rethink the decision, but I sincerely doubt it.
And I know exactly what you mean about the "live up to your potential" comments -- that certainly brings back memories.
posted 3 years, 3 months ago
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on No More Asperger's?
A close friend of mine who lives in Oregon informed me of this discussion. Both my son and I have Asperger's. And I am very much against this decision to revise the DSM, intellectually and emotionally.
My biggest concerns are that for all those services this will supposedly qualify us for, there will also be many doors that slam shut. For example, I think people will deny jobs to "Autistic" people on this basis. And I'm certain that many schools will place children with Asperger's together with LFA children -- a situation which has been hard enough to fight before this change.
And as John mentions, the root of the problem is simply that the majority of people out there will draw false conclusions about people with Asperger's and think of us as "Rain Man," basically. I think the psychiatric community is insensitive to the fact that the general public does not consist of clinicians -- we have to live in the world and given the challenges we already face, god knows why anyone would make it harder for us.
This insistance that "Autism is a spectrum" does nothing to alleviate my concerns, either. Certainly I have to acknowledge that's true, but if you don't arbitrarily stop it somewhere, wouldn't every human being on earth fall somewhere on the spectrum? Everyone shows signs of autism to some degree. And even if I grant that it's 100% true with no room for discussion -- still, why would you want to apply that truth in a way that hurts us?
And the comparison of "mild autism" to "mild pregancy." That's very clever, but totally wrong... whatever the credentials of the speaker may be. Yes, you can have mild autism and particularly as an adult you can employ coping strategies that make it seem to most people like you're more or less normal -- maybe "quirky." Someone with "low functioning autism" can't do that and I don't know what either he or I would gain from being considered to have the same condition. And any objective observer would see that we're different.
- Kory
posted 3 years, 3 months ago
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