Doctor stated that Autism is not a medical condition.

Well I have argued before that the storyline that we are all somewhere on the spectrum has diluted public regard for the condition.

The thing about disability is that some of them don't look that big to the general public. Having a stammer for example can be horrendous, but not many think of it as a disability. Adult dyslexia isn't taken seriously enough, because you can get supportive technology. However the main manifestation of adult dyslexia is poor memory rather than spelling which has great impact and isn't so easily resolved. Adult ADHD is another misunderstood condition.

People tend to look on disability as a scale, and they put being blind or deaf, or confined to a wheelchair as the epitomy of disability, and anything else diminishes in comparison. Invisible disability particularly is not taken seriously enough and that includes diabetes, brittle bone syndrome, and various heart conditions.

Now I do mean to be careful saying this because some manifestations of autism just aren't as easy as it looks to NTs but people are likely to take the view that having social difficulty and finding it hard to make friends isn't a disability. And the public view of mental health, including anxiety and depression, is far from reassuring. You often get people saying if they were in your shoes they wouldn't be so helpless. It isn't just autism that is misunderstood.

The argument often raised is that some aspects of autism seem to be down to personality and will power. That's uppermost in the minds of the DHSS and Job Centre Plus, though it is good that NAS seems to have convinced them there are disabling aspects they haven't perceived (even if they still aren't on the website descriptions of what autism involves).

It may be difficult to resolve many aspects of autism, but the possibility that you can supposedly achieve something by self help and self determination probably underlies the perceptions of heath professionals. People see regaining sight, walking again after years in a wheelchair etc as fighting disability. You always will have that comparison being made.

Until NAS and others manage to move away from just the triad of impairments towards a better understanding of what disables many people on the spectrum from day to day, there will still be the argument that if you are not manifesting enough of the triad you aren't disabled.

Well I have argued before that the storyline that we are all somewhere on the spectrum has diluted public regard for the condition.

The thing about disability is that some of them don't look that big to the general public. Having a stammer for example can be horrendous, but not many think of it as a disability. Adult dyslexia isn't taken seriously enough, because you can get supportive technology. However the main manifestation of adult dyslexia is poor memory rather than spelling which has great impact and isn't so easily resolved. Adult ADHD is another misunderstood condition.

People tend to look on disability as a scale, and they put being blind or deaf, or confined to a wheelchair as the epitomy of disability, and anything else diminishes in comparison. Invisible disability particularly is not taken seriously enough and that includes diabetes, brittle bone syndrome, and various heart conditions.

Now I do mean to be careful saying this because some manifestations of autism just aren't as easy as it looks to NTs but people are likely to take the view that having social difficulty and finding it hard to make friends isn't a disability. And the public view of mental health, including anxiety and depression, is far from reassuring. You often get people saying if they were in your shoes they wouldn't be so helpless. It isn't just autism that is misunderstood.

The argument often raised is that some aspects of autism seem to be down to personality and will power. That's uppermost in the minds of the DHSS and Job Centre Plus, though it is good that NAS seems to have convinced them there are disabling aspects they haven't perceived (even if they still aren't on the website descriptions of what autism involves).

It may be difficult to resolve many aspects of autism, but the possibility that you can supposedly achieve something by self help and self determination probably underlies the perceptions of heath professionals. People see regaining sight, walking again after years in a wheelchair etc as fighting disability. You always will have that comparison being made.

Until NAS and others manage to move away from just the triad of impairments towards a better understanding of what disables many people on the spectrum from day to day, there will still be the argument that if you are not manifesting enough of the triad you aren't disabled.