Lately, i kept getting ill after certain things happened. I went to the docter, but he couldn't find the problem, so i went to a psychologist. After a few visits and tests he found out i had Aspergers, which is a type of Autism.
This doesn't affect my life much, i'm still able to live it to the fullest, but i'm having the feeling that i'm some sort of "labeled" now.

So, this whole situation made me wonder:

What do you guys think of Autism?

I spent a couple years with that same label. Some people will (and probably already do) think your wierd but theres nothing wrong with having any form of ASD infact in some ways it's a gift. I'de assume you have an interest which you are very knowledable about and your probably pretty good with fact memorisation, embrace it's strengths try and overcome a few of it's "weaknesses" and it shouldn't be a problem. Some of the most successful people in the world have had some type of ASD (Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, Satoshi Tajiri, Thomas Edison.)

It's just a matter of how you use what you've been given. You were born with it just like someones born gay or with red hair and if someone thinks poorly of you simply because of a disorder then they don't deserve to be in your presence.

Uhh....

Words fail me in figuring out what you're on about, Tree.

Dammit and now I just turned this post into a long-ass pun

Don't worry about it. I assume you've only been diagnosed with very mild Asperger's, in which case it shouldn't have a significant impact on your life. I'm not autistic but I'm on the borderline really, if my symptoms were just a tiny bit worse I would probably be diagnosed with autism. I find it difficult to communicate with people my own age. I can do it, I just find it hard because I sometimes don't understand facial expressions and often miss sarcasm. Like Meidou said, take advantage of your strengths and try to overcome any problems you face.

As for what I think of autism, I feel sorry for those with it but it doesn't really change my opinion of a person much, several of my friends are mildly autistic and I get along with them fine.

Not saying this to be rude, but that explains a lot of things, I must say...

Yes, I can understand why you say that

I find Sals a lot easier, because communicating online people use smileys, which I can interpret fairly easily, as opposed to having to watch someone's face. And that's also why I have epicly misinterpreted some posts that didn't use smileys, and why I use them far too much

I see nothing wrong with people with any form of special needs, unless they use it as an excuse for barriers of anything that they can do even with the disorder.

How is this a debate?

I don't feel sorry for people with autism, I treat them the same as I'd treat anyone else.

some people tend to put Autism in the same category as leprosy and other horrible conditions but as someone who is slightly autistic i can assure you its not that bad.

It really depends, autism is a wide label. Aspergers falls under autism, but people with Aspergers are generally able to live their life like anyone else. At the same time, my cousin has autism and he can barely communicate at all, has a lot of trouble dealing with others, and generally learns slower, except in a few special cases.

I agree with Meidou, Aspergers certainly has its upsides and it's important to focus on the positives.

I agree with you there. They've done nothing to warrant bullying for being autistic, but they've also not done anything to warrant special treatment.

I agree you should try not to give them special treatment, when I said I felt sorry for them I just meant I felt how you would for anyone with a disability or illness. The only 'special treatment' I give autistic people is I try to avoid sarcasm/irony/e.t.c. in conversation because I personally find understanding those sort of things difficult, and I'm trying to make the conversation a bit easier for them.

There's a difference between sympathy and empathy. If I had a disability or illness, I wouldn't want people feeling sorry for me all the time, I'd want people to disacknowledge it and treat me the same as everyone else.

Tread carefully with Psychologists. Often they can convince you of having a problem, disorder, or disease, when there is actually nothing wrong with you at all. I'm not saying their advice or profession is invalid, but don't place to much faith in their diagnosis. I have been tricked and conned far too many times by those Psychologists.

Which is the only bone I have to pick with Autism. It seems like every bratty, undisciplined child who starts foaming at the mouth and running into walls, gets diagnosed Autistic. It's getting to the point where this diagnosis is an excuse for bad parenting and lack of discipline in the home. This happened/is happening with ADD and ADHD as well. It's creating an entire generation of children who are being raised on medication and psychiatric treatment, which in my opinion is not productive in the least.
We need to separate the children who truly need treatment for Autism, Asperger's, etc, and those children whose parents are too quick to diagnosis and label, merely for their own benefit.

^This.

I've been diagnosed with Aspergers since age 10. I can't make idle conversation, i'm a hermit, and I (unintentionally) talk above almost everyone in my age group, but i'm still just a person. Treat me as much.

*gets off soapbox*

I totally agree with you. School treats languages and math as the most important subjects. Maybe someone is doing horrible in math and english, yet they excel at music and art. Most "experts" would say they have a learning disability. If the school would let them focus on what they are good at, they would have great potential to do well in life.

I know a whole bunch of people with Aspergers. I didn't know until they told me, and I never think of it unless they bring it up.
It had no affect on their identity at all.



Especially since most of the major schools in Psychology are completely controversial and in no way falsifiable.

Autism is actually something, a lot of us have. If you like a certain sound a lot (E.G: water dropping), if you get really annoyed when certain things happen (E.G: someone screams), if you have a hard time hearing people. As you can see, many types.

A doctor can through that at you almost anytime.

But I really don't care if you have autism a lot, this could explain why your annoying, but my BEST FRIEND, has autism and it doesn't effect him at all (Except what DOES effect him.)

What a wonderfully sensitive thing to say to someone just diagnosed with Asperger's. :|

iSummon, I expect a summary on proper grammar, spelling, and remotely logical thought on my desk by next Tuesday.

Meh all the Aspergers kids I've known were dreadfully annoying. It's actually one of the necessary traits in order to be diagnosed with Aspergers.
(Sorry i'll clarify, Being annoying isn't a trait being obsessive is however, and that usually leads to irritation and blah blah blah i can't type or form decent sentences today.)

IHSIUOHYGkhfoi09

Not to belittle anyone's predicament, but it seems to me that it's getting awfully fashionable to be "autistic" ...

It's not just autism, it's any kind of diagnosable mental irregularity or disorder.

But yes, I agree.

I Think someone else on this thread mentioned it, there throwing the diagnosis around far to much nowadays. I was diagnosed because i was shy and liked to draw in middle school. Turned out to be a load of bullshizzle and i think the doctor got in trouble for giving a few other bad diagnoses later on and was fired/laid-off.

Quite - autism is the new ADHD ...

Psychologists have labelled among many things: autistic (I had a lack of understanding of others, empathy), psychopathic (the lack of empathy wasn't austism it was psychopathic), pyromania (it's a primitive instinct to like fire) and ADD (lack of concentration). As I grew up I realised what he was defining were just moods at the time. I had no empathy as I didn't care for anyone, unlike now. Pyromania is a pretty natural thing, primitive instinct to move towards fire, and the ADD was because I was bored in school, not because I had ADD.

If you have Asperges then you have little to worry about. You'll move through life pretty smoothly and probably come out with a nice job at the end

3 of my best friends (who are seriously perfectly normal) were medically classified as autistic.

Seriously, it's just some wacko person who prolly has it, denies it everytime and tries to make a fuss about it, leading to a dumber stereotype everywhere.

People with autism are no different from the person next to you. You're still a person. And everyone has their own unique set of problems and handicaps.

Yet both are real mental 'disabilties' that have been existing for a very, very long time. Not because they have only recently been discovered and seen as a real disability, it means people who have it should be regarded as if they were using it for an excuse. If you really think that, you haven't met a person with autism or ADHD/ADD yet. Although autism is more of a disability than ADHD/ADD.

Of course there are always lighter forms of those disabilities. That doesn't mean it should be regarded as a disability. People who have them hate it when others think they're using it for an excuse for not concentrating/hyperactivity (ADD/ADHD) or just being 'different' (autism). I had a friend two years back who had some kind of short term memory/memory loss problem. The teachers always thought he was making it up as an excuse for bad results and forgetting to do his homework. Of course he suffered a lot from all those things added up together. Nothing worse than someone not taking your disabilities seriously.

Keep in mind that scientists, doctors, and the like are still just scratching the surface of what we know about the brain. Autism is such a huge spectrum disorder and can have any number of different variables, plus a lot of the time it can be multiple diagonsies clumped together. Some parts have more diffinitive labels, like Aspergers, while other times autism is the "we don't quite know what's going on so we'll say it's autism. A kid that shouts all the time and a kid that never speaks can both have autism for example.

My brother has an ADD+low IQ+anxiety+ random traits like repeating the same phrase over and over. So autism was best doctors could write him down for. I kinda feel sorry doctors, having to categorize things that quite often don't have cateogories.

But it's just another label, one way or another. It's not like you've suddenly changed since you got diagnosed. So just be yourself, as always.

Edit: I had a friend like that Kwinten. She struggled to finish tests even though she was a good student. In college someone suggested she get tested and it turned out she had a form of dsylexia.

I used to live opposite a guy with aspergers in halls. He was lovely just had his little quirks (and seriously, dont we all), he didnt like people touching him, so, naturally I hugged him at every available opportunity. He got used to that though.

We got on great, nobody labelled him or bullied him. But then, why would they, we are all different. I hope you have as much luck with your 'condition' as my friend =)

I have a friend with Aspergers and he seems no different from any of my other friends.

I disagree that ADHD is in fact a mental issue, I think it's more a parenting issue. Every kid I've known with ADHD or ADD was from a bad family.

And there's more than a handful.

My sister has ADD. I can assure you she didn't get bad parenting. Or maybe that's what they want me to think. Whatever.

I know a few guys who have it too. Surely not bad parenting. I don't think it has to do with that, although it might contribute to it.

Also, I think it's highly cultural. In today's world nobody has attention spans...I have about an eight minute attention span (HEY I sat through the whole first scene of Doctor Strangelove, that's pretty fudgeing boss in the 21st century a'ight and I didn't go further only cuz the internet shot itself) and that's considered very impressive. My mom said that in the 1960s when she was growing up, if you had an eight minute attention span, they would have put you in special ed. I think it still supports my point--by the 1960s, divorce and generally anti-societal (not anti-social, that's different bro) behavior was becoming more acceptable.

Apparently even back then they had special ed, the most surprising thing.

I agree on the cultural part. In places like China (or better, school in China), the students show absolutely no skepticism, cynism, and the like. Their culture is all about respecting your superiors and as such they respect the teacher, and are constantly paying attention. You could say that their attention span is pretty long.

In our western culture we get quite a lot of freedom in schools, even though we don't notice. The feeling that you can just sit there or talk during lessons contributes to the attitude that nobody gives a crap if you don't pay attention. With that reasoning you could also say that it's an attitude problem, but ADD is more than just that. It's not something you have much control over. Sure, with a good attitude you can try broadening your attention span, but it won't work with just that. Also, I think there's also a difference between attention span and concentration. Attention span is all about listening to what somebody else is saying etcetera, while concentration is more focusing and trying to understand what the other is saying. Attention is like the sissy brother of concentration.

I find it a sad and unfortunate condition. I personally don't see where we can debate this issue. I believe the people afflicted must be given the sufficient treatment and rights required to be given to any human being suffering from a disease and illness. at the same time, we as a society has the social and and moral responsibility to further our understanding on the condition and find it's cause and treatment if possible.

To Tree, I wish you the best of luck and congratulate you for trying to move forwards despite the condition. Don't worry. There have been plenty of people who have managed to live perfectly normal lives despite the condition. My head of Year for one.

Autism isn't a disease or an illness though, it's a genetic trait, thats like saying i have a disease because i'm slightly whiter then the average Jap. Autism is only a disadvantage because autistic people are a minority. (1/150 people) if autistic people were more numerous the world might actual run a little better.

To put it more simply: Autism is only a problem because normal people can't cope with it.

I know an autistic guy who can reel off the most random world landmarks...

Just suddenly compelled to post that.

@Phoenix: Yeah, I don't really understand what the debate is here...

Oh -- don't get me wrong Kwinten, I am not belittling those with the genuine article disability -- what I AM saying is this, in fact, appears to be little more than another round of disability prognoses that is being bandied about as a means of excusing poor behaviour on the grounds that "you're not responsible for your actions".

Yes- there are people with serious disabilities. Yes there are people who function well -- very well in fact -- despite some disabilities.

However, somewhere in between those two groups lies (amongst several others) that group of individuals who, for the sake of pure laziness, will hang their shingle upon this new designer disability as an excuse for not doing anything with their lives.

Shoot and bang

The quoted post was made of pure fudgeing awesome

It isn't a disease, but there are more and less severe cases. I don't think of anyone less because of any diseases/illnesses they have (Okay, Hitler is an exception), so I don't think of you as an idiot or obnoxious...

... I bet a lot of people are thinking that I should get tested now...

... I'm going to go do that...
~Vincent

The shrinks thought I had Asperger's until they realized I was just impatient and had little tolerance when it came to dealing with people and their stupid quirks.

So if impatience can be mistaken for it, it can't be that bad.

You don't think less of Hitler due to a disease or illness though do you.

You hate him because of the Holocaust, I'm guessing.

That isn't a disease

Yeah but Asperger's is a very specific and mild form of autism. It's true that Asperger's isn't terribly bad (although Asperger's also has various levels of severity) but autism can be pretty tough for people.

I doubt you hate Hitler because of the disease he had, you think less of him because of what he did.

The American Psychological Society and the British Psychological Society views it as a developmental disorder that impairs social interaction and communication. Even noted autistics such as Temple Grandin describe it as a inability to understand the social communication people with normal neural development. We have a third of autistics not being able to develop sufficient speech to be able to get on in society. Let us not forget also the compulsive behaviours most notably the ritualistic behaviour shown with many autistics who are incapable getting past daily routines such as diet and timing without change or variation. And the condition called Restricted behavio when a person with the condition is limited to only one focus of attention.

As much as I hate to admit it (and plz, don't view me as apathetic or unfeeling here), autism is indeed a mental disorder and like any disease, must be given our fullest attention with regards to diagnosis, therapy and care for sufferers and the research and development of the cause and cure. That is the best thing we could do for these people. We must not accept that this is a normal condition that can be ignored but instead attempt to achieve a higher standard of health for present and future sufferers.

Yes, it is a genetic trait. But so is the fact that I and many people worldwide are born with glasses. It doesn't change the fact that it is a disease that must be addressed hence we develop better lenses and treatment so people can cope and hopefully be cured..

Hitler wasn't sick. He was just crazy.

Well, on CSI I learned that Autistic people are not retarted and retard mean to hold back or hinder, but that's another story.

I don't care if someone has any disease or disability as long as the don't mooch off of it, or poke at me. By mooching I mean some people are like, "Please help me, I have Autism (or some other mnor thing), could I please have some money." Just cuz you have Autism isn't going to make me feel worse for you.

Psychopathy is indeed a disease.

Also i could write a big long tl;dr post on why what Hitler did wasn't all that "crazy" but i'll save the flame-magnets for another time plus it'd turn into mass-thread hijacking.

Oh, sorry for all the abuse then