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Is Asperger Syndrome a separate disability to Autism?

NAS69295

Some people who were diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome are probably not Autistic at all.

They probably just have a few Autistic traits but really have another disability such as Dyspraxia.

A Psychologist who tested me in Jerusalem in 1983 who was working for the late Professor Reuven Feuerstine and has now moved back to Toronto Canada and Emailed from there says I have a Non-Verbal Learning Difficulty on the Right Side of my Brain and did not know I had Asperger Syndrome.  I have bad perception and get lost easily in new places.  Find it hard to recognize people. 

An Autism researcher said it was a waste of time continuing to test me as I obviously have perception problems nothing to do with  Autism.  I think taking part in the emotions tests for Professor Baron-Cohen was a waste of time as I cannot even recognize people.  When I worked at Waitrose and was too slow taking the shopping out the Job Center said it had nothing to do with my disability.   I think it had as I probably have Dyspraxia.   Last night I attended a Zoom meeting tribute to Mary Colley.  It is not only sad she died ten years ago it is a shame that there is no organization that represents Neuro Diverse people as Mary rightly said that few people with Asperger Syndrome just have Asperger Syndrome and most have Co-Existing conditions.  I am not suggesting that the label Asperger Syndrome should be brought back for two reasons firstly Hans Asperger did not discover the Autistic Spectrum, it was discovered by a Russian Child Psychiatrist Grunya Sukhareva in 1924 about twenty years before Hans Asperger did his work in Austria during World War 2 also Hans Asperger is supposed to have sent some disabled children to be murdered by the *** so obviously we should not use his name.  I do think that there should be a label Autistic Traits which means that you might not really be Autistic but something else.  I could be brain damaged because I had a difficult birth and fell out of a pram when I was a baby.  The brain scans it is true did not find anything wrong with me.  My GP told me in 2009 that I am considered by the NHS to have Asperger Syndrome because a Psychiatrist who visited me in my home in 1976 when I was nineteen said I was mildly Autistic.   When I was nine in1966 a Psychiatrist wanted to send me to an Autistic School which would have been completely inappropriate although I was very unhappy at the private secondary schools although the State Primary was not too bad.

  • in reply to NAS69295

    What I liked about DANDA was that it embraced Asperger Syndrome Dyspraxia Dyslexia Attention Deficit Disorder.  After Mary Collie sadly died young in 2010 it is also unfortunate that DANDA has folded up so I do not think there is an organization that embraces those conditions anymore.   These conditions overlap and it is rare for anyone to have just one of those conditions.   I think the above deserve an E-Mail on its own.

  • in reply to JohnS

    That Psychologist I wrote about earlier in Toronto who said that I have a Non-Verbal learning difficulty on the Right Side of my Brain says I have Dyspraxia as I have perception problems which he discovered when he tested me in 1983 in Jerusalem for the late Professor Feuerstein.  I expect other people with the label Asperger Syndrome are not really Autistic but have other disabilities such as Dyspraxia Dyslexia or Attention Deficit Disorder.  They seemed to have given the diagnoses of Asperger Syndrome to anyone who has difficulties.  People with Dyspraxia also have social skills problems.   Many people with Low Functioning Autism cannot speak so they are obviously Autistic but people with Asperger Syndrome are not obviously Autistic so it is easy to make a mistake.  In one way a wrong diagnosis does not matter because as soon as someone gets a diagnosis of one of these conditions we know that they are disabled and likely to have difficulties.  Another way of putting is that a diagnosis proves that the person is different and cannot fit into society's norms.

  • in reply to Plastic

    Absolutely !! Being and Aspie (and I am officially diagnosed as one), just means we are what was originally defined as high functioning autism. Being able to reason and think things through is a gift and a curse. We can rationalise certain situations to help overcome the stress and anxiety it brings. We can plan, predict and rehearse situations that someone that someone with low functioning Autism can't do, which is why these people have much greater difficulty in coping. On a personal note , I don't really like the Autism lablel and much prefer  describing myself as having Aspergers

  • in reply to NAS69295

    I would like to add that I do not think it is a recognized category or diagnosis Non-Verbal Learning Difficulty on the Right Side of the Brain.

  • in reply to aidie

    Yes giving people a label brings people together.  Before my parents were told in family therapy that I have Asperger Syndrome I felt my difficulties did not have a category.  I was in my early thirties when my parents were told that my difficulties have nothing to do with upbringing but Asperger Syndrome.  The therapist must have read that a consultant Psychiatrist said I had mild Autism.

  • in reply to Plastic

    Many people diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome might find life very hard because of Dyspraxia.   Once you have been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome or a form of Autism it is easy to forget that when you cannot cope with daily tasks might have nothing or little to do with Asperger Syndrome or Autistic traits.  I have been told that getting lost has nothing to do with Asperger Syndrome although I might sometimes think it has.

  • I guess this is why the mental health professionals created  a spectrum, to bring together people with sets of issues that overlap quite a bit with each other

    Heart

  • Being an aspie myself, I totally disagree with you.      I see the only difference between aspies and all other autistic people is our slightly better threshold / ability to mask the amount of distress we are feeling.    We have all the same social anxieties, but where 'normal' auties might run away if it gets too much, we (stupidly) tend to stick with it and try to bluff our way through relying more on our masks - and often internally crashing and burning in the process.    Just because we look like we're coping better, it doesn't mean we are.