Bloggg

Just when Aspies get a modicum of respect, TPTB try to screw everything up…

The American Psychiatric Association’s proposed revisions, announced Wednesday, involve autism and several other conditions. The suggested autism changes are based on research advances since 1994 showing little difference between mild autism and Asperger’s. Evidence also suggests that doctors use the term loosely and disagree on what it means, according to psychiatrists urging the revisions.

A new autism spectrum category recognizes that “the symptoms of these disorders represent a continuum from mild to severe, rather than being distinct disorders,” said Dr. Edwin Cook, a University of Illinois at Chicago autism researcher and member of the APA work group proposing the changes.

The proposed revisions are posted online at http://www.DSM5.org for public comment, which will influence whether they are adopted. Publication of the updated manual is planned for May 2013.

Dr. Mina Dulcan, child and adolescent psychiatry chief at Chicago’s Children’s Memorial Hospital, said Aspies’ opposition “is not really a medical question, it’s an identity question.”

“It would be just like if you were a student at MIT. You might not want to be lumped with somebody in the community college,” said Dulcan who supports the diagnostic change.

It’s not as snooty as what that last Duncan person said.

With autism being so much in the public eye, it’s finally becoming clearer to more than just the families themselves exactly how HUGE a spectrum this is. Asperger’s has a face – Bill Gates, Einstein, Goerthe, John Nash, VanGogh, several Presidents. While the majority of autistics have problems making friends, at least those with Asperger’s stand a chance. They stand a chance of being able to be productive members of society on and of their own accord.

Not that other autistics do not deserve this – they do, and more. However, the majority of more severe autistics need round the clock care or monitoring, and this lack of ability to be independent is, to me, the major distinction between Aspies and the rest. I think that not wanting to be lumped into a group where the most severe cannot go to the toilet alone is a valid concern. If I’m wrong, please tell me why.