Asperger Syndrome should the label stay?

At the NAS AGM at the British Museum I was told that if one has the tirad of impairments one can still have a diagnoses of Autism and in the individual needs one could write down Asperger.

So my diagnoses is safe.

With all this conflicting information one does not know what to believe.

David

I read somewhere that the American Psychiatric Association want to label people diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome not with mild Autism or Asperger Syndrome.

They want to call it a Social Communication Disorder.

It is not very nice but it probably is clinically right.

All this is going to happen in May 2013 a few months away.

What do other people think?

David

David said:

It might be mild that they only have slight communication problems but have serious

Co-Existing conditions.

Then a right a correct diagnoses would be mild Autism with serious Co-Existing Conditions.

This is what I absolutely don't agree with here.

I don't have "serious Co-Existing Conditions" as you put it, and only have "slight communication problems" but my Asperger's is not, in any sense of the word, 'mild'!

It is an insult to me, and everyone like me, to say that Asperger's is 'mild', and it seriously pisses me off that anyone would even suggest such a thing.

I would not loose my diagnoses because Psychiatrists considered me Autistic long before the Asperger label came out.

In 1966 a Psychiatrist wanted to send me to an Autistic school which my Mother did not agree to send me to.

In 1976 a Psychiatrist said I was mildly Autistic which my GP told me in 2009 that is the equivalent today of Asperger Syndrome.

I suppose if you are diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome you could convert the diagnoses to a form of Autism once the label is phased out.

The advantage of getting rid of the label it will save paper on leaflets What is Asperger Syndrome.

We are so different from each other and most people with Asperger have Co-Existing conditions so it is difficult to define what exactly Asperger is.

It is wrong to sterotype Asperger people who only have Autistic traits.

On the other hand if we do not keep the label it will be difficult to campaign for people at the top end of the spectrum who only have a few Autistic traits.

It might be mild that they only have slight communication problems but have serious

Co-Existing conditions.

Then a right a correct diagnoses would be mild Autism with serious Co-Existing Conditions.

David

David said:

On the other hand people with Asperger Syndrome often do not have learning difficulties and only have a few Autistic traits so it is hard to consider them Autistic in the true sense of the word.  Is it better to call us mildly Autistic instead of Asperger Syndrome?

Having 'learning difficulties' is not a defining factor of Autism.

And why would being called "Midly Autistic" be any better?!

My Asperger's is not 'mild' in any sense of the word!

In my opinion we should embrace and self-identify with the term "Asperger's" precisly so that it doesn't get phased out.

It is true that Asperger Syndrome is probably not a separate disability from Autism.

Some people diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome have siblings who are truly Autistic.

On the other hand people with Asperger Syndrome often do not have learning difficulties and only have a few Autistic traits so it is hard to consider them Autistic in the true sense of the word.  Is it better to call us mildly Autistic instead of Asperger Syndrome?

In 1976 a Psychiatrist said I was mildly Autistic.

In 1990 we accepted I was on the spectrum when it was explained to my Parents that I have Asperger Syndrome.

In 2009 my GP explained that the remark about mildly Autistic is the equivalent of Asperger Syndrome today.

It might be clinacally right to get rid of the label Asperger Syndrome but it makes it harder for us.  Anyway even if all the Psychiatrists do not recognise Asperger Syndrome we can campaign as the label still exists.

That will take some time as in 2013 that is only happening in the USA.

David

David said:

In the true sense of the word he is not really Autistic at all.

Autism is a spectrum condition.

It's a bit like having a headache - sometimes you have just dull feeling in your head that you can easily ignore, sometimes you have such pain that you can not function, sometimes you have something somewhere in between - they're all still headaches, it's just the severity, and the precise underlying causes, that differ.

Saying that people with Asperger's are not Autistic is simply wrong.

(based on the current scientific medical understanding, that is)

I read about Ari representing Autistic people in the White House.

The question was asked as he is high funcitioning Autistic does he have the right to represent the profoundly Autistic.

The truth is he has Asperger Syndrome or Autistic traits so he could also be described as mildly Autistic.  In the true sense of the word he is not really Autistic at all.

The American Psychiatric Association in their new manual DSM 5 might be clinally right to get rid of the label Asperger Syndrome.

The good thing is that it will be harder to wrongly sterotype Autistic people if the label of Asperger Syndrome does not exist.

The bad thing is that it will be harder for people at the high functioning end to get the help they need when the Asperger Syndrome label goes.

We will then be back in the situation we were before 1994 when Asperger Syndrome was officially recognised.

David

Asperger Syndrome really means having Autisitc traits.

I do remember in Croydon abut twenty years ago the Asperger group of Parents of young children pulled down the Autistic label and put up the Asperger Label.

That was because the  Autistic group had left.

I expect the Asperger Children are going to have severe problems as well as the officially Autistic children.

I remember a boy of six with Asperger Syndrome twenty years ago not in touch with the Mother nore is my Mother so we do not know how he is getting on.

He was in a special school and his Mother said there is no point punishing him for doing dangerous things.

David

I'm agreeing with scorpion.

Aspergers is a form of autism.  I am autistic.  I don't need to qualify that, or explain myself or justify my diagnosis.  Or even feel slightly superior to other people who may be affected differently and in a way that is more obvious.

If you want to call yourself or your children aspergers that's up to you but I would examine the reasons behind it.

Personally I 'own' the label autistic as much as I 'own' the label female.  And I'm not mild anything!

I think the consultation stage for DSM5  is over or neraly over.

DSM5 is the Amercan Psyiatrist Association Manuel and they are doing a review on many disorders in the USA.

Not sure if the label of Asperger Syndrome is going to go.

David

ok i havent been a diagnosed aspie long but personally i agree with scorpio,
and we are the ones who struggle with our autism surely it should be up to the people who actually have aspergers wether they think they want to keep the name or be mildy autistic which personally i think just makes things confusing.

Im an Aspie and even though its hard I'm very proud to be one!

We have to await developments re what is going to happen to the manual DSM 5 in the USA.  I have heard that the manual includes co-existing conditions.

DSM5 is not just about Autisim it is about a wide variety of Psychiatric conditions.

It is the American Psychiatrists manual.

I have written something as I am in the Libriary.

I cannot reach the community on my Home Computer.

David

I think you may be seeing patterns that aren't there.

(and please don't take that as an insult, I just mean that I think you may be over-thinking things)

(oh, and, @the mods: this is one of the reasons why these forums need private messages)

Try looking for patterns in the discussions Scorpion0x17

You're being very obtuse, longman.

In response to Scorpion0x17, I think labels in general provides an appropriate context discussion for labels surrounding autism. So I'm not averse to the discussion per se, just some aspects are confusing me. I just wonder if that's where the discussion is being taken, and altruistically sounding a couple of notes of caution.

i'm just very confused now about the whole thing i'm going some were where i can ask someone about this i'll let you know what they think about this it deals with austins i think.  

No, Asperger's is a form of Autism.

However, I don't think it should be called 'mild autism' as it's not, in any sense of the word, 'mild'.

I think unless someone can demonstrate that what is now called Asperger's is, in some significant way, different to what was first described by Hans Asperger, then it should remain being called Asperger's.

And it's a pretty pointless argument, because everyone that already has a diagnosis of, and identifies themselves with the label, Asperger's isn't going just stop using it because the DSM people say so.

Not that, if I understand correctly, they are now saying that the term Asperger's shouldn't be used.

It's all a bit of an argument over nothing.

do you think asperger might be another thing then autism and it should be re named and not labeled as autism any more.