On the front page of its Science Times section, the New York Times(11/3, D1, Wallis http://tinyurl.com/eliminating-aspergers) reports that “experts who are revising” the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders “have proposed to eliminate” Asperger’s syndrome “from the new edition, due out in 2012,” folding “Asperger’s syndrome and another mild form of autism, pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified…into a single broad diagnosis, autism spectrum disorder.” These “proposed changes” are “part of a bigger overhaul that will” see “psychiatric disorders…as a continuum, with many degrees of severity,” with the goal of developing “severity measures within each diagnosis,” according to Darrel A. Regier, MD, “research director at the American Psychiatric Association and vice chairman of the diagnostic manual’s task force.”
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This is a dangerous and slippery slope. Asperger’s is a separate and distinct syndrome which may be on the autism spectrum but needs to be treated very differently than Autism. It is REAL and is not an unspecified Pervasive Developmental Disorder!
Not at all – Asperger Syndrome is part of the autism spectrum. Why be afraid of being identified as autistic? It’s not a dirty word. People with Asperger Syndrome are autistic. No-one is saying AS is an unspecified pervasive developmental disorder – they are saying AS is autism. And that should be OK.
I agree that it is not a dirty word but people with AS have a pervasive developmental disorder. According to DSM IV they do not have Autism. There is no delay in the development of language and cognitive skills in people with AS like you would see in autism. I believe there are separate entities and syndromes which may even have different causes, courses and outcomes. However according to DSM V “Asperger’s syndrome and another mild form of autism, pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (P.D.D.-N.O.S. for short), will be folded into a single broad diagnosis, autism spectrum disorder.” I hope we at least get an Autism Spectrum Disorder NOS diagnosis in DSM V if this is going to be the case.
I’m with you abrandemihl.
The biggest problem I see in the proposal to eliminate Asperger’s Syndrome as its own separate diagnosis and place it in the DSM-V among the catch-all category of ASDs is not so much in the Asperger community not wanting to be labeled autistic, but rather that it will almost certainly detract from the amount of specialized support available to people with AS. As Dr. Brandemihl said in his post above, while no one here is disputing that Asperger’s Syndrome is part of the broader autism spectrum, it is an entirely different beast than autism proper, and it needs to continue to be seen and treated as such. It must be approached from a different perspective, with different psychiatric strategies. Within the Asperger community there is some apprehension that the reclassification being proposed for the DSM-V will only further simplify an already grossly oversimplified discussion about autism, and in so doing, people with Asperger’s may be confused for people with autism proper, therefore losing the specialized support structure they require. I am not arguing that Asperger’s should not be acknowledged as an ASD; I am arguing that it must retain its differentiation from other ASDs, in order to better serve Asperger’s patients.
I am very much opposed to the change. I am one of the few who believes that HFA and Asperger’s are not the same thing. And yes, for more than just the early language delay thing.
With Asperger’s, we actually do want to be a part of the rest of society. We want to be able to understand how to be social, how to have ordinary conversations to make friends. We want to be a part of the rest of the world, we just don’t know how.
We look for a bridge between our own world and the world everyone else is in, somewhere we can reach out to your world, and you can reach out to ours.
For those with HFA, those whom I have gotten to know, and I am not wanting to offend anyone it is different. They are very content in thier own world. Whereas they will talk to and socialize with others as much as needed to get along in life, they don’t feel this need to fit in or be a part of society the way someone with AS would. As stated before, they are content in thier world. They like friends, but society as a whole doesn’t hold a lot of meaning for them.
What they are doing is a mistake for many reasons! I understand that parents are wanting services for those with Asperger’s. And this is desperately needed, as I have AS I know this! But we need services that make sense to deal with the issues that we on the other side of the spectrum face! I already have to go through therapies and tests that I don’t need, waisitng tons of state money, because issues that are apart of other kinds of autism. I don’t have these issues. No one that I know with AS does.
But we are put through the tests and therapies anyway.
Meanwhile, in the areas we actually DO need help, there is absolutely nothing!! I see no programs helping the college bound HFA/AS with transitioning from highschool into college. I see no programs to help us find, apply for, learn interview skills for, and keep jobs. As well as communicating with your boss, and your fellow employees.
I see no programs that teach us how to budget, how to balance a check book, how to clean, how to cook, how to spend wisely. No programs on how to deal with and live in society and deal with people in a way that would make it easier to live independently on our own.
I see no help with housing, on helping us learn how to be a part of the community, on helping us cope with anxiety, or helping us understnad what is expected of us by society and why. No, all these services don’t exist. And continue to not even be discussed unless someone like me comes along who forces the issue!
This cookie cutter style of services has got to stop! They already treat almost all of us the same, giving us all the same therapies, same lessons, same benefits, etc. No matter how drasticly different we and our needs are from one another.It’s a waiste of time, money, resources, and continues to allow millions of people to fall through the cracks of our system, with still no help.
This will only make it worse. For along with lumping AS under Autism, they are changing the criteria to better fit it under that area. Which means more will fall through the cracks, even though they have genuine issues that need to be addressed!
I know, parents want to be able to get benefits for thier children. But why are there not programs out there to help and teach us how to transition and help us throughout college or employment so that we can get meaningful jobs and not NEED goverment benefits? Why is it so hard to understand the idea of paying a little now for these services to save alot later when we are able to get along without goverment benefits?
We have got to stop this cookie cutter one size fits all approach to treating a Spectrum of disorders! Especially one as large with such drastic differences as the Autism Spectrum! We have got to start indivudualizing care based off the needs and the goals of each individual on the Spectrum.
And with someone with AS will have needs and issues that are different from someone on the otherside of the Spectrum, to lump us in with those who need different services doesn’t make logical sense and in the end we will be no better off than we are now.
I think we need to keep Asperger’s seperate. That Special Education should instead widen it’s criteria, and supports that truly need to be finally get put into place. And that care and supports be put in place based on the needs of the individual, not all on the Spectrum getting the same treatment and being thought of the same.
That is why the system is failing so miserably now, and after this will continue to fail. Because they don’t get it! THey are doing nothing but going in circles instead of addressing the issues at hand. The “at least we are doing something” mentality is total bs. Because if your something is the wrong thing, nothing will ever change.
This will just make all the special educators, the teachers, staff, case managers, doctors, and therapists to treat us all the same, with the same therapies, treatments, etc even though we do not have the same issues or in some cases the issues that are in the same areas are not as severe as in other types of autism.
No one wants to help with the problems we do have. Everyone wants to treat us for the problems we don’t have.
Maybe it’s just me.
Theo
I believe that re-classifying Asperger Syndrome diagnosis to the proposed changes seriously infringes on the understanding and support people with Asperger Syndrome have. Furthermore I think it seriously undermines support and essential services for adults who have Asperger Syndrome. Adults with Asperger Syndrome struggle in their day to day lives and don’t need more complications to heighten their anxiety and reduce awareness that is vital to their day to day living. I am an adult with Asperger Syndrome myself and I think it also corrodes all of the hard work and dedication that Dr Tony Attwood has provided to Asperger Syndrome awareness also.
We with Asperger’s Syndrome Need A Better Understanding of it so I Support it being Taken Out of the ASD thing I’m with THEO on This
WE ARE:
*Very CIVIL (unlike the nuero-typical MONKEYS we are forced to live with)
Every time WE try to socialise (NT MONKEYS) Lead us up the GARDEN path – pretend to be our friends – THEY THEN TURN AROUND AND MAIM/TORTURE/ABUSE/HARASS/PICK ON us AND WE NEVER DID ANYTHING TO THEM TO WARRANT IT
I Live in Australia and i went to a MAINSTREAM primary and HIGH SCHOOL (in australia we don’t have middle school)
every morning i was sitting on the TOILET (SH*TTING MY A$$ OFF) wondering what WOUNDING i would recieve today from simply saying to some-one “HELLO WHAT IS YOUR NAME AND HOW ARE YOU TODAY” (I was only 13 at the time) ONLY TO HAVE SOME 18 year old ALMOST MURDER ME (Ludicrous emanations of greivious bodily harm)
And you wonder why we HIDE OURSELVES for!
ALSO WE ARE:
*VERY MORAL (unlike the NT MONKEYS)
It’s like and E.T. PUTTING UP WITH NEANDERTHALS (THEY ARE SO STUPIDLY IGNORANT)
Oh and that thing about AS People HAVING LIMITED INTERESTS AND ACTIVITIES (NT MONKEYS CALL THAT A SCHEDULE)
We Schedule our PLAY-TIME!!!
We actually have very DIVERSE INTERESTS AND ACTIVITIES that we like to keep INTIMATE (Not let ANYONE KNOW ABOUT)
We are VERY POLITICAL, MILITANT and LOYAL in NATURE!! WITH AN I.Q. 130-160+ it’s hard NOT TO BE!
I believe that Asperger’s and autism are two completely different conditions. There is no specific provision for people like myself who have Asperger’s and so we are lumped in with the autistic community and therefore I have been able to observe the differences.
Whereas I want to participate in mainstream society, people who are autistic wish to remain in their own closed communities. Additionally, I’m academically very bright and if I’d been diagnosed much earlier, with appropriate support I would have been a fully contributing member of society for many years now…that will never be the case with people with classical autism.
If Asperger’s is re-classified there are also likely to be negative funding and advocacy issues.
This is disastrous! I deeply identify myself as Asperger. They must not rob my identity.