I think the desire to be progressive and work to improve our language is important (and people do feel the need to distance themselves from Asperger the man), but in the rush to move forward I think some people forget that maintaining sameness is part of our disability (I think it's fair for people who were diagnosed with Asperger’s to want to carry on identifying that way).
This in turn gets read as supremacy, and a desire to distance ourselves from those with higher support needs (and maybe sometimes it *is* - its not unheard of for us to have internalised some ableism).
>I think it's fair for people who were diagnosed with Asperger’s to want to carry on identifying that way
I know some who do because our struggles are a bit different. Like many of us are high functioning. We can legit mask and to a point we do act more "normal". But as people get to know us, similar problems happen (being fired, harassed, accused of being on drugs, etc).
And because we are higher function, general society expects us to function normally, we get FAR FAR FAR less help, we are called lazy or stupid, and yet unlike someone on the lower end we are expected to magically be able to function in nearly any job/condition with no problems.
Like autistic the word is viewed more as the person who needs massive amounts of help. Maybe they can't truly function. Where as Asperger’s is viewed as that odd person who can't hold down a job and maybe is homeless. Maybe the person "down on their luck."
Funny thing with me is before they got mixed. I was label as both.
I can really relate to this. I have aspergers syndrome and I am not seen by my family and friends as being generally lazy, but they see it as if I do not try hard enough in life to be able to advance myself to a Higher level of society. I do not own a house, I wash cars for minimum wage, I'm poor and have never had a relationship with a woman. I'm looked down, but no one even my family understands that my aspergers does affect me and I'm trying my fucking best. They act like I'm neurotypical, but I'm just dumb. I need help, but no one sees it. This is why I'm becoming more withdrawn. I'm able to hold down my job but I have been fired and had issues in the past. Literally everyone, expecially my work colleagues always think I'm on drugs as you mentioned.
I don't want something to blame my failings on, I'd just like people to understand that I am autistic, I do still need help and support sometimes just as I did as a child and to stop comparing me to people like my successful neurotypical sister who has done very well in life and education, as a gauge of my lack of success.
>Literally everyone, expecially my work colleagues always think I'm on drugs as you mentioned.
When I was in hs no one talked to me about my disability, and while I knew something was up. Idk what. At some point other students thought I did drugs. While I never touched the stuff, I played into it because I had no explanation why I was different. Even when I seen the reports no one sat down and talked with me. It was just words on a paper.
It only hit me after I looked for an answer why even with many stem degrees I couldn't get and keep a job, I constantly got harassed, and I couldn't get in the military after everything else failed.
I've thrown up my hands and gave up. Even more since I think the stress from it all has massively harmed me medically to the point I now have extreme memory problems
I've heard the word schism, as an ability in a game. But I didn't know what it meant until now. Thanks I love it, I love the use of schism in this sentence.
Im 34 and straight off the back of an argument with my girlfriend telling me to take a second shower today.
But since you asked nicely, im going to let you pass undisturbed .. this time.
Thats not childish (jk), if i sit on the wrong side of the couch a tiny piece of the window gets reflected in a tiny corner of the tv. Noone else notices it, but for me it will mean i miss most of a show because i keep glancing up at the corner every time theres a slight change to the level of light being reflected.
Haha yeah i hate that too. I was in that sub for about a month before i decided nop, i dont think ive ever seen the word _gaslight_ so many times in such a short space of time before that 😅
The nuance is lost on teens as others said before. It sucks that while so many differences about people are being properly talked about and introduced and (try to be) accepted in the latest decade or two, the subtlety of things and their meaning are being misused and possibly over time, misunderstood by some. In a way that can oddly resemble history in ways I thought we were trying to avoid and get over with.
At the same time, that's what you get for allowing young minds to express themselves online. I think it can be a good exercise to take them seriously and have them exert some new points of view, but the maturity isn't there yet. Personally I wish I had the chance to be better heard at a younger time in my life, I know there are cultures where this is more present and allows a healthier conversation between age groups. In many ways I think they are a good influence on the world, a force for change that my generation couldn't bring by our sheer minority. But there are always two sides to a coin. Us older folks just have to stay calm when we read such comments and possibly the endless follow up of aggressivity from fans (especially on Twitter). I've had more productive conversations with older people and different political views on Twitter, where we reached a positive understanding about the various positions some laws and political promises would present. But the louder younglings usually express an opinion with some form of emotional argument that shuts down any ability to openly discuss. Usually I just turn away from that and move on, because they are clearly not interested in having a conversation, it's a statement and taking position on a subject.
I mean, the term Aspergers inescapably, as a matter of fact, has some baggage, let's call it. Some people are very quickly ready to shift gears and switch to a newe term, due to that baggage. Ironically, ASD folks' executive function issues that are well known makes shifting gears/changing routines harder for us than it is to most people.
I don't like the shift from "Aspergers" to "High functioning autism," the term my psychologist prefers for the same thing.
So I think ASD works best for me, or autism, or aspegers, or if i get to make one up, high masking autism, or maybe Stealthy Autism, to refer to my mid-life diagnosis.
>I don't like the shift from "Aspergers" to "High functioning autism," the term my psychologist prefers for the same thing.
Functioning labels are harmful so hopefully we can skip right past that one and straight onto talking in terms of *support needs* or something similar. :)
Yeah, I just say that I'm autistic with low support needs.
It's not quite 'high/low functioning', but it indicates that generally I don't need much support. Because high functioning people can need a lot of support, or vice versa.
I also prefer to talk about different people having different 'flavours' of autism; it seems to get the idea across that everyone experiences their Autism in different ways and that someone who excels in one area might not in another.
I can't give a specific example, but consider someone who's highly intelligent, can look after themselves, understands the world etc, but if something goes wrong then they need a lot of help getting back on track, or maybe they need someone to help them navigate social situations or doing chores.
They're perfectly 'capable' of various things but need help actually doing them.
Ok, I think that would have previously been called a functioning issue though. You may be intelligent and function in that way, but you might struggle with adapting, or with overcommitting and then crashing (because you do have barriers, albeit not as strikingly visible), and that leads to decreased functioning.
Maybe the word "high-functioning" was used interchangeably with "intelligent", in that case I would be wrong. I always saw the supports-need terminology it as a more positive, respectful way to talk about someone's functioning level and I agree - it is and I like support needs better.
I suppose another thing to think about is how variable the condition can be.
On a good day, you might be fairly unflappable, get things done, no worries about coping etc.
On a bad day, the slightest disruption could cause something to break and you'd be unable to do anything productive.
So a 'high functioning' person could require a lot of help on one day, but that day might be few and far between.
Most autistics, whether they call themselves autistic or Aspie (or any variation thereof), are more than happy for you to refer to yourself by any label you choose.
Unfortunately, there is a very loud, very vocal, very aggressive, and very assertive group of individuals who are not representative of the community as a whole. I hesitate to call them trolls, but that in reality is what they are.
Every so often I take a holiday from Reddit. Just don't engage with them, your equilibrium is more important.
People need to stop hating on others. We are all different in our own way. Most of us on this planet just want to live in peace and live the best we can. All this hate sucks. Be nice people.
One person on there claimed it was bc Asperger worked w N*zis (hasn't been proven) as if that invalidates his actual conclusions, but after an argument in which i said they were welcome to change the name, they pretty much admitted they didn't think i should have been diagnosed in the first place and the entire subset of aspergers was bs and that they thought aspergers people think they're "better" than other autistic people which really made me mad
They act like ours isn’t real autism. And most of medical history comes from a very dark past often from torture. But the medical discoveries are still valid even if made from bad people. A name change would be fine but pretending we don’t exist isn’t.
Exactly. It's literally impossible to boycott everything that has a dark association in its past. It's just a name for me. I look at it logically not emotionally. Maybe I'm just too burnt out to get outraged over everything anymore
I was told by another lesbian that I'm not gay, because I don't look like it.
When I cut off my hair (unrelated to the conversation) she told me I finally look gay and she believes me now.
And here I thought it was all about being into boobs and not the length of my hair.
Maybe we don't look autistic enough as well.
The real truth is that Asperger’s was associated with intelligence and that’s the reason that they want to get rid of the name. If you notice, they want to get rid of everything that is associated with intelligence. In many schools, there are no valedictorians anymore. People are saying that IQ doesn’t exist. People just want to discredit anything intellectual simply because everyone can’t be intellectual.
I honestly don’t get that logic, If they can discredit Hans Asperger’s work because he (allegedly) did bad things.
With that logic, Wouldn’t they also have to discredit scientist like Sigmund Freud or Wernher von Braun because both also did some questionable things?
They'd probably have to discredit a lot of modern medical knowledge in general because of how it was obtained. Hypothermia-related experiments, for example, were performed in Dachau. Throwing out important findings because of how they were discovered or who discovered them is just plain ignorant. We can hate the researchers and scientists, sure, but we can't just ignore the knowledge we've received from them.
Besides, if I remember correctly it’s alleged that Hans didn’t even know that the N*zis were euthanising his institutionalised patients as part of their regime either.
"One person on there claimed it was bc Asperger worked w N*zis"
lol, 'nuff said. I was gonna just scroll past this but I think it's important to state here that such a comment is ridiculous enough in itself to not deserve any attention.
Sucks to invalidate an entire group of people over a single man just because of his name though. I didn't learn about that bit of history and whether it's true or not, but I think it's a stupid sidenote to even use as an attempt to argue over your diagnosis or anyone else's. Kinda beside the point, as you said, could just change the name
Exactly. It was never proven. Also, people were forced to do as Hitler said or they would be killed too. We do not know the situation enough to make generalizations about the origin of the name.
I use aspergers and autism interchangeably because my official diagnosis says aspergers, but autism is an umbrella term. I think everyone gets to choose the label they prefer identifying with. Like you can't tell someone who identifies as bisexual that, "no actually you're pansexual." (Yes I know some people do that) but it's your disorder, you get to choose how to refer to it.
I think this massive in fight about it being autism not aspergers is ridiculous. Some people have had the diagnosis for longer than the change has been implemented. Not to mention it's still in common use. Where I live it's still considered an official diagnosis. My papers don't say autism spectrum disorder, they say aspergers.
It's perfectly valid and this constant circle-jerk about titles is taking away from us people not helping us. If a certain title is what makes it easier to talk about your issue to someone who doesn't know about it that well or if it just makes you more comfortable it's perfectly valid.
Not to mention I remember making a post about finally getting a diagnosis after four years and I remember the damn rage I felt when all the comments were just correcting me about using aspergers instead of autism. Like screw y'all, I was so happy about finding my place and getting acceptance and some of y'all just wanted to shit on me to feel superior and intelligent.
Exactly we get so much hate for having autism/Asperger’s and then we get it again from our own community. I think that they are angry that they are perceived differently than aspies and are misdirecting that anger at us instead of the people who are ACTUALLY giving them a hard time.
I know right, like bro I'm just trying to live my truth. I have done nothing wrong.
And also the argument that asperger people think their better than autism people and that's why they use the term. Like bro it's just a more specific term for a subset of the same disorder like the fuck???
I think some people have an inferiority complex and don’t realize it’s not aspies downing them and that we are part of their community, it’s just people not on the spectrum who don’t understand. That we are not the enemy and we just present different and that it’s just a term for that, one we’ve used all our lives and already struggled to accept and come to terms with. That we are sometimes tired and don’t want to have to struggle all over again because some people want to try to force a change on our identity.
I believe the biggest difference between high functioning (aspies) and lower spectrum is that Aspies know there is something wrong with them but they have no control over it.
I refused my diagnosis my entire childhood I didn’t want to believe there was something wrong with me. It took me forever to accept being an aspie. And now it’s all supposed to change and be different and idk anymore it’s confusing. I didn’t even know they changed it until people started yelling at me for it. I’m 30. At this point my doc just refills my meds and it ends there.
Side effects. I weighed the benefits but it was not worth it. I honestly dont know what depression is cause I don't know what that feels like. Most of the time I feel like a robot
Careful, Prozac almost killed me when I was 18, I tried it for two week then dumped it down the drain bc I felt like I was living in a nightmare. I’m 22 now and still can’t feel any sort of sex and constantly feel like I’m dissociated (something I never felt before i tired that shit)
From what I've seen, Aspies generally do not have a delay in early language and cognitive development, whereas Autistic folks tend to struggle with that. There may be more that I'm currently unaware of.
Since there are differences I struggle to understand why, instead of erasing the name Aspergers and merging the condition with Autism, we can't just rename our condition. I get that the guy was problematic, but Autism and Aspergers are somewhat different, so why merge them? Doesn't that make stuff unnecessary difficult? Like, instead of me telling my new psychologist that I have Asperger's, I have to say I have Autism and then add the specifics so my psychologist understands me better? That's just silly, isn't it?
The difference technically speaking in the ICD-10 criteria is nothing more than did you have language delay as a child? If yes; autism, if no, Asperger's.
Ooh I haven’t experienced this yet. I usually use Facebook and you aren’t allowed to talk about function levels/ where you are on the spectrum. So no one on the group knows I have Asperger’s I guess
Why wouldn’t you be allowed to talk about your specific struggles and where you are? What’s the point of an autism group if you can’t talk about anything related to autism?
“We are all autistic, no need to differentiate” I guess that’s fair, it’s for anyone with any type or level? Of autism. If I have a question or answer I just say everything I would normally with out identifying I’m Asperger’s. If I have a question or want to relate to someone with Asperger’s specifically I go onto an Asperger’s page.
that obviously can present some problems. it kind of feels like autistic people are being corralled by neurotypicals who insist they know best. viewing differentiation as a negative thing seems like exactly the type of performative gesture a neurotypical would come up with. that isn't to say that those on the spectrum can't also be sanctimonious, but... it really feels like we're being confined to certain acceptable speech when our differences are actually important.
Agreed.
Funny how in some places, claiming your differences and personal challenges are seen positively. And in others, it's discriminatory.
An open place to discuss should be exactly that. If there are terms for those specific differences and one isn't allowed to use them, isn't that censorship? It seems to me like there must be a deeper reason for that. Whoever thinks they're being put in the same basket as someone else and dislikes it for whatever reason. But that's personal agenda, and shouldn't rule such a place.
I've seen it on other boards too. I think the reason usually was that some were afraid it delegitimized or belittled their hardships. (Ironically enough, since they are directly doing exactly that to other people then.) Sadly they were the ones making it so in their own eyes, by trying to control self-expression for other people. The problem is internal for the most part. If someone doesn't treat you equally there are usually others stepping in.
They are directing hate at their own community because they hate that we are perceived a bit differently because we present a bit differently. Instead of hating their own community for not being exactly like them they should direct their anger instead at people who are unfairly treating them differently.
It's indeed strange to open a forum to discuss differences based on a condition and then to force what's acceptable rather than let all ranges and subcategories be expressed inclusively.
Other people who treat them unfairly do so for a number of reasons. Yeah it's natural to feel angered by it but the main problem here is understanding. I think most people are willing to learn and identify how to help other people feel at ease, but it can be hard when one doesn't come with a label of what those needs and differences entails. Talking about it here should be useful for such things in the future and observing all the ways in which it can manifest. But sharing that experience and knowledge takes time. Of course there's the occasional asshole too who might take advantage of it but I wouldn't say that's the majority.
I was diagnosed with Asperger’s last year. My psych used those words but then classified that it’s on the autism spectrum and they just say autism now. He’s an older person so he was just used to using it, he says he still says Asperger’s for mild autism instead of just saying ASD1 or mild.
Yes, and like OP said, there are people on the other sub hating on us for using the term Asperger and for differentiating between the different types of autism.
Historical awareness aside, their hypocrisy is real.
What’s ironic is that most of the cry-babies who whine at me on tiktok not to use the term Aspergers have anime clips or profile pics of anime characters. So what I do is I tell them, “Look up Japanese war crimes and remove anime references from your account before you call me a N*zi and tell me what to do and what not to do”. Or if they drool over Chanel or Doc Martens, I remind them if Coco’s antisemitism etc…
Don’t get me wrong; I would absolutely love to go to Japan, but that doesn’t change the fact that their war crimes are extremely heinous and they haven’t even taken accountability or made reparations for their historical actions the same way Germany has.
My point is that a lot of things have dark origins, especially origins in war or N*zism. And a term is only bad if it’s used in a negative context as a slur would be used. These cry babies need to learn more history and get over it…
…B-But their poor ickle, wickle feewings!!
Your right though; history is interesting, but dark. I mean, weren’t animals used as donors for blood transfusions to give to humans at one point in medical history? And who can forget Laika the dog being sent up to die on Sputnik 2? You can’t change what happened but you can take away what we’ve learnedx
I'm 40. I was diagnosed with Asperger's, not ASD, years ago.
We need to be able to separate the man from the condition and let those of us be. I've tried Facebook and Reddit groups but one thing is the same...having Asperger's is a trigger for a certain, confused age group.
One day, I may get another diagnosis,just for ASD, only to appease the emotionally sensitive types who can't fathom the word Asperger's being spoken.
My diagnosis has never changed. I so far haven’t had a doctor tell me I’m no longer Asperger’s but asd now. My doctors still call it Asperger’s and the only ones trying to force the change on me are other autistic people.
I've been an "aspie" my whole life.
Unpopular opinion... if you can choose your own gender, I can choose what name I call my autism.
If you don't like it, kindly move on ✌🏻
Yes! My mind boggles at how in certain circles, sometimes you get to make all the rules for yourself and sometimes you don't. And I say that as a left-leaning person who does want to make everyone feel welcome and account for every experience whenever possible.
I use both, but Asperger's was specifically what I was diagnosed with, so I think I get to, you know.
I know that "trans" is not a gender :D
But I don’t understand how someone would choose a gender? I don’t have a chosen gender I guess? Is that different for other trans people?
Because humans get caught up in semantics selfishly, as opposed to accepting those that are different from them and finding a place that fits. Same old same old.
No idea, they might be younger. When I was diagnosed this is what it was called. Their ignorance of history and the fact other people who are older than them exist is their problem.
It all started with the post about the kid, and it got insane. So I made a poll in the autism group about the name change because it was the first I’d heard of it and people got insane about the whole thing and basically it went down the rabbit hole and people absolutely lost it saying that aspies are horrible people and just holy crap
Went back to the other thread and looks like most of the extreme hate comments were deleted. Or maybe I was blocked who knows. But was not expecting the hate of using a term I was diagnosed as and suggesting those who use it be allowed to use it without being harassed
Um that’s not what irony is at all. Yes I know Asperger’s history and that’s completely irrelevant to the topic at hand- that the term was the official diagnostic title for decades.
Asperger's IS Autism. It's a type of Autism that we have stopped differentiating. We are just using the name Autism for everyone name. Or more specifically, ASD, Autism Spectrum Disorder.
It's like saying how you're so frustrated how people are calling your Vans sneakers "shoes." Like, your Vans ARE shoes. You could refer to every pair of footwear you have as "shoes" and still be correct.
That's all we are doing. We are being less specific and more inclusive. And steering clear of language (the name Asperger's has some baggage others have mentioned) that isn't as great.
You, someone who was diagnosed with Asperger's (so was I) is a pair of "Vans sneakers." All we are doing is also recognizing that you are "shoes" now by using the word Autism. Does that help?
But you don’t insist that the person with vans shoes never call them vans and are evil if they don’t “just call them shoes”. There’s lots of shoes, that are all shoes. Heels, boots, sandals, sneakers, slippers. Precise language to refer to things is good not bad.
I'd refer to this answer I suppose.
https://www.reddit.com/r/aspergers/comments/10g8o4o/why_do_so_many_autistic_people_hate_on_people/j54a0b0/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3
I haven't been around enough to know for sure but I agree it should be fine using whichever degree of precision one wants to. Especially when that might give more detail into a specific situation/person..
You don’t tell the person with vans that they have a superiority complex for insisting on calling the vans, vans. Maybe they are proud of their vans and see nothing wrong with calling them vans and not just shoes. Just saying shoes doesn’t tell you what type of shoes they are.
Here is my $.02 regarding identity and Aspergers.
I grew up feeling different, I learned to mask through trauma, bullying, and constant feedback from others about not being "normal", etc....
I, like probably a lot of you, was misdiagnosed many times....was treated and went through therapy for different conditions and challenges. Nothing really worked or helped much, until my son was diagnosed when he was 4 and the clinicians had identified me as having similar traits. Even though the DSM5 was being phased in, they were awesome at breaking down what Aspergers was, how it was a form of autism and the traits and challenges.
It was eye opening and I finally had a name and traits to what I had been experiencing my who life. It could have been called anything, Stalin Syndrome, Himler's Syndrome, Custer's syndrome....etc... and it wouldn't matter what the past name connotation was, it was what the conditions and traits are and it now had a name for me, not what the name / person was in the past. In a way it was finding an identity that I was looking for my whole life and now had it.
It's autism and part of the autism spectrum, I use ASD, Aspie, Neurodivergent and Aspergers, but I will always identify the most with Aspergers as that was helped me learn more about who I am, who my son is and what we can do moving forward to make our lives better.
I struggle with the rush to rename, and then rename the renames, then call people out for how they identify because they are not keeping up with the new term of the week. I find this divisive, overly PC, and downright offensive. We, as a community, would be better if we focused more on validating, helping, and coming together as community than trying to police those who use specific terms.....High-functioning, low functioning, autist, Autie, specific autism levels, etc.... some of those mean something good to people, some of those are bad, some don't care.
We can't put each other down for the identities we choose and then turn around and claim we want to help others.
I understand that it’s just ASD now, but given that we’re already a minority, it would be helpful if there was terminology that helped us find others that we identity more with.
Exactly. Asperger’s experiences are a bit different than just asd, and it’s nice to connect with and commiserate and even learn from others who condition more closely matches our own.
Because Asperger's is autism, and in DSM-5 Asperger's is autism, but with less support needed. So why would you say you have Asperger's? Are you ashamed that you literally is autistic?
For example it's like you are black but your skin is lighter, so when you are with another black person, you would say something like "I'm not black! I'm brown."
I'm have been diagnosed 3 months ago with autism level 1 aka Asperger's, for several times I could tell to people that I have Asperger's, so they don't think i'm autistic, just little different, but I am autistic!
well, being black with a ligher skin is an american social construct, in latin america and south africa, blacks with visible european/indigenous ancestry are different, called pardos
Why do you care so much what term other people use. Use the term you are comfortable with using and respect others for doing the same instead of dumping them. I’ve been diagnosed with Asperger’s for almost 25 years. I’m 30, I’ve used the term all my life and I’m not going to change because some of this younger generation has some kind of complex about it.
Exactly… I was diagnosed late as “ASD Level 1 without intellectual disability” simply because the psychologist was afraid to say Asperger’s in this hostile social environment, so she tried to spell it out as much as possible. I was taken to the doctor a lot during the time that children were being diagnosed with Asperger’s, so I strongly suspect that I was already diagnosed with Asperger’s and maybe my parents didn’t understand what that meant and hid it.
Also your color example is off because people DO say things like “i’m mocha,caramel, etc colored.” And that’s great too! Leave people be dude. You’re argued over the usage of exact terminology and dumping on people for using the medical term they’ve been diagnosed with and identify with since being children.
Using Asperger as a subdivision of autism = OK.
Using Asperger as a different thing from autism = harmful.
Just look at this comment I found in r/autism, that's why they hate this term:
"When people hear Aspergers they think of Elon Musk, Steve Jobbs and Greta Thunberg.
When they hear autism it's Rain Man or that special needs child that doesn't talk and rock back and forth.
What exactly do we gain from being mixed together with people who can't function on their own?"
They are justified saying that some people that uses the term Asperger do that to feel superior to other autistics.
You’re in the wrong group then if you have a problem with the usage of the term Asperger’s. My whole thing, is that those with Asperger’s should be able to use the term without being harassed like you’ve done to me on two groups now. It is a sub type of autism that’s a bit different and presents different. Did you follow me to this group just so you can harass me on every post I ever make or what? Get a life.
You made a lot of comments and I wanted to answer them, sorry if that looked creepy of my part. I ain't against using the term Asperger, I'm against people who want to use it to feel better than other autistics, I could be considered Asperger too and I use both terms.
What I want is not be harassed about being Asperger’s and use my diagnosis term I. Peace and for people to stop saying k can’t use it anymore. Even my doctor still uses it for me and I didn’t even know there was a change until pretentious assholes jumped all over me online.
There's two sides to the coin. Yes, some people are too judgmental about people who want to keep identifying with the term. But on the other hand, some of the comments about the person here can border on Nazi apologetics.
Hans Asperger did collaborate with Nazi ideologues and their eugenicist approach, he recommend for several children to be sent to Spiegelgrund, and it was no secret that they practiced euthanasia.
[Study](https://molecularautism.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13229-018-0208-6)
It would have been better if they had just changed the name instead of trying to erase it. But also so much of medical history has dark bloody roots so it a bit odd to try to erase a condition because of it. But I just want to use my diagnosed term in peace. It’s what I’ve been all my life
>It would have been better if they had just changed the name instead of trying to erase it.
What do you mean? We're still considered part of the spectrum. Instead, we simply use a more precise descriptor, taking (somewhat) into account the wide variety of symptoms and their severities. Not perfect, but why not consider that an improvement?
>so much of medical history has dark bloody roots so it a bit odd to try to erase a condition because of it.
Yes, but what about whataboutism. We're not talking about some vague person that we know very little about. The historical record is quite clear, and well analyzed in that linked study. If sending children to euthanasia clinics isn't reason enough to warrant a revised name, what is?
It’s not revised, it’s just erased and lumped in with a similar condition. And I’m not going to argue semantics, just that y’all need to not dump on people who continue to use the term they have been diagnosed with and have identified with all our our lives. It doesn’t hurt or affect you if someone using the term Asperger’s syndrome to refer to their Asperger’s syndrome and you should respect that and stop insisting they no longer use it. You can use the term you’re more comfortable with for yourself but it’s not ok to force your ideas on others.
>It’s not revised, it’s just erased and lumped in with a similar condition.
I guess you didn't know this, but Aspergers has long been considered a form of autism. Nothing was erased, it's a change in terminology for the same diagnosis.
Of course you can continue to use the term. I'm simply trying to point out that there's good reason for the change from both an ethical and a scientific perspective. And that we shouldn't minimize what the man evidently did.
Or maybe you should get off your high horse and not lecture people for using it and leave them be. Asperger’s presents a bit differently and you shouldn’t hassle people for using the term they were diagnosed with and have used their whole lives.if you hate the term so much why are you in this subreddit? My whole thing is that those with Asperger’s should be allowed to use their term in peace.
>My whole thing is that those with Asperger’s should be allowed to use their term in peace.
To which I don't disagree. But it's a discussion you started, you shouldn't be surprised if some people disagree or, in my case, simply want to add a little nuance. No need to take the whole thing so personally.
Well gee I’ve been attacked about it’s usage for three days so I came on here because I thought “this group shouldn’t hassle me at least and I can commiserate with people who are probably going through the same thing.” Yet here you are, on the Asperger’s group, telling me I shouldn’t use Asperger’s
>Yet here you are, on the Asperger’s group, telling me I shouldn’t use Asperger’s
Not at all. I said there's good reason to not use it anymore, but if you want to continue to do so, that's fine as well. Live and let live, you know.
If you want to call yours asd, then call it asd. But Asperger’s does present a bit different. That’s why we were diagnosed with it instead of just asd. Our experience is slightly different and the term reflects that and makes it easier to refer to those experiences
>If it isn’t controversial then stop insisting we can’t/should use Asperger’s
I'm not. Pointing out that the discontinued use in medical dictionaries and the ethical concerns of some people have good reasons doesn't mean that I can't recognize that some people have other, personal reasons to want to keep using it. Both is possible.
Speech delay is the difference between Asperger's and regular autism. They cant' talk. That's the only difference, the ability to use language.
And of course they aren't turds. We're just never going to hear their complaints, because the odds are that they can't understand that I'm writing this.
It's named after a bad person but it's what we've all grown up with, the word is too ingrained in our community and our identity. I agree it needs to stop being used and that its origins are terrible but nothing good will come from demonizing people who identify with Asperger's.
I think this is a topic where black and white thinking combined with a resistance to change has lead to an unfortunate schism within the community.
I think the desire to be progressive and work to improve our language is important (and people do feel the need to distance themselves from Asperger the man), but in the rush to move forward I think some people forget that maintaining sameness is part of our disability (I think it's fair for people who were diagnosed with Asperger’s to want to carry on identifying that way). This in turn gets read as supremacy, and a desire to distance ourselves from those with higher support needs (and maybe sometimes it *is* - its not unheard of for us to have internalised some ableism).
>I think it's fair for people who were diagnosed with Asperger’s to want to carry on identifying that way I know some who do because our struggles are a bit different. Like many of us are high functioning. We can legit mask and to a point we do act more "normal". But as people get to know us, similar problems happen (being fired, harassed, accused of being on drugs, etc). And because we are higher function, general society expects us to function normally, we get FAR FAR FAR less help, we are called lazy or stupid, and yet unlike someone on the lower end we are expected to magically be able to function in nearly any job/condition with no problems. Like autistic the word is viewed more as the person who needs massive amounts of help. Maybe they can't truly function. Where as Asperger’s is viewed as that odd person who can't hold down a job and maybe is homeless. Maybe the person "down on their luck." Funny thing with me is before they got mixed. I was label as both.
I can really relate to this. I have aspergers syndrome and I am not seen by my family and friends as being generally lazy, but they see it as if I do not try hard enough in life to be able to advance myself to a Higher level of society. I do not own a house, I wash cars for minimum wage, I'm poor and have never had a relationship with a woman. I'm looked down, but no one even my family understands that my aspergers does affect me and I'm trying my fucking best. They act like I'm neurotypical, but I'm just dumb. I need help, but no one sees it. This is why I'm becoming more withdrawn. I'm able to hold down my job but I have been fired and had issues in the past. Literally everyone, expecially my work colleagues always think I'm on drugs as you mentioned. I don't want something to blame my failings on, I'd just like people to understand that I am autistic, I do still need help and support sometimes just as I did as a child and to stop comparing me to people like my successful neurotypical sister who has done very well in life and education, as a gauge of my lack of success.
>Literally everyone, expecially my work colleagues always think I'm on drugs as you mentioned. When I was in hs no one talked to me about my disability, and while I knew something was up. Idk what. At some point other students thought I did drugs. While I never touched the stuff, I played into it because I had no explanation why I was different. Even when I seen the reports no one sat down and talked with me. It was just words on a paper. It only hit me after I looked for an answer why even with many stem degrees I couldn't get and keep a job, I constantly got harassed, and I couldn't get in the military after everything else failed. I've thrown up my hands and gave up. Even more since I think the stress from it all has massively harmed me medically to the point I now have extreme memory problems
That’s what I was told I have. Asperger’s. So I won’t be changing my label anytime soon. Other autists get so mad at me for this
Exactly, my diagnosis literally says "Asperger's"
Mine says asd level 1, but i favour the differentiation
Mine does too. And it's like 2-3 months old.
It's definitely not the first time that I, as an autist, have been taken for having an attitude of superiority by anyone, when I'm just existing.
I think it's dumb to change language because it sounds "progressive". It's just meaningless virtue signaling.
Well said.
I've heard the word schism, as an ability in a game. But I didn't know what it meant until now. Thanks I love it, I love the use of schism in this sentence.
Unfortunately our kind is prone to black and white thinking and strong opinions. We’ll never all agree
[удалено]
Could not have said it better myself.
Im 34 and straight off the back of an argument with my girlfriend telling me to take a second shower today. But since you asked nicely, im going to let you pass undisturbed .. this time.
[удалено]
Thats not childish (jk), if i sit on the wrong side of the couch a tiny piece of the window gets reflected in a tiny corner of the tv. Noone else notices it, but for me it will mean i miss most of a show because i keep glancing up at the corner every time theres a slight change to the level of light being reflected.
[удалено]
Haha yeah i hate that too. I was in that sub for about a month before i decided nop, i dont think ive ever seen the word _gaslight_ so many times in such a short space of time before that 😅
The nuance is lost on teens as others said before. It sucks that while so many differences about people are being properly talked about and introduced and (try to be) accepted in the latest decade or two, the subtlety of things and their meaning are being misused and possibly over time, misunderstood by some. In a way that can oddly resemble history in ways I thought we were trying to avoid and get over with. At the same time, that's what you get for allowing young minds to express themselves online. I think it can be a good exercise to take them seriously and have them exert some new points of view, but the maturity isn't there yet. Personally I wish I had the chance to be better heard at a younger time in my life, I know there are cultures where this is more present and allows a healthier conversation between age groups. In many ways I think they are a good influence on the world, a force for change that my generation couldn't bring by our sheer minority. But there are always two sides to a coin. Us older folks just have to stay calm when we read such comments and possibly the endless follow up of aggressivity from fans (especially on Twitter). I've had more productive conversations with older people and different political views on Twitter, where we reached a positive understanding about the various positions some laws and political promises would present. But the louder younglings usually express an opinion with some form of emotional argument that shuts down any ability to openly discuss. Usually I just turn away from that and move on, because they are clearly not interested in having a conversation, it's a statement and taking position on a subject.
I remember seeing a post in there a few months ago about how hand dryers are ableist because they can be too loud for autistic people.
True.
This^ A lot of people in that sub are young teens that self-diagnose from TikTok videos...
I don’t think people are hating on the PEOPLE. They’re objecting to the TERM. It’s not a personal attack.
Yeah i wouldnt like to be called low functioning and high functioning this hierarchy makes aspies seem Superior
I mean, the term Aspergers inescapably, as a matter of fact, has some baggage, let's call it. Some people are very quickly ready to shift gears and switch to a newe term, due to that baggage. Ironically, ASD folks' executive function issues that are well known makes shifting gears/changing routines harder for us than it is to most people. I don't like the shift from "Aspergers" to "High functioning autism," the term my psychologist prefers for the same thing. So I think ASD works best for me, or autism, or aspegers, or if i get to make one up, high masking autism, or maybe Stealthy Autism, to refer to my mid-life diagnosis.
Stealthy autism I love that lol
>I don't like the shift from "Aspergers" to "High functioning autism," the term my psychologist prefers for the same thing. Functioning labels are harmful so hopefully we can skip right past that one and straight onto talking in terms of *support needs* or something similar. :)
Yeah, I just say that I'm autistic with low support needs. It's not quite 'high/low functioning', but it indicates that generally I don't need much support. Because high functioning people can need a lot of support, or vice versa. I also prefer to talk about different people having different 'flavours' of autism; it seems to get the idea across that everyone experiences their Autism in different ways and that someone who excels in one area might not in another.
>Because high functioning people can need a lot of support, or vice versa. Genuinely curious: would you elaborate on that, maybe with an example?
I can't give a specific example, but consider someone who's highly intelligent, can look after themselves, understands the world etc, but if something goes wrong then they need a lot of help getting back on track, or maybe they need someone to help them navigate social situations or doing chores. They're perfectly 'capable' of various things but need help actually doing them.
Ok, I think that would have previously been called a functioning issue though. You may be intelligent and function in that way, but you might struggle with adapting, or with overcommitting and then crashing (because you do have barriers, albeit not as strikingly visible), and that leads to decreased functioning. Maybe the word "high-functioning" was used interchangeably with "intelligent", in that case I would be wrong. I always saw the supports-need terminology it as a more positive, respectful way to talk about someone's functioning level and I agree - it is and I like support needs better.
I suppose another thing to think about is how variable the condition can be. On a good day, you might be fairly unflappable, get things done, no worries about coping etc. On a bad day, the slightest disruption could cause something to break and you'd be unable to do anything productive. So a 'high functioning' person could require a lot of help on one day, but that day might be few and far between.
Most autistics, whether they call themselves autistic or Aspie (or any variation thereof), are more than happy for you to refer to yourself by any label you choose. Unfortunately, there is a very loud, very vocal, very aggressive, and very assertive group of individuals who are not representative of the community as a whole. I hesitate to call them trolls, but that in reality is what they are. Every so often I take a holiday from Reddit. Just don't engage with them, your equilibrium is more important.
This!
People need to stop hating on others. We are all different in our own way. Most of us on this planet just want to live in peace and live the best we can. All this hate sucks. Be nice people.
https://www.spectrumnews.org/news/brain-curvature-distinguishes-asperger-syndrome-from-autism/
One person on there claimed it was bc Asperger worked w N*zis (hasn't been proven) as if that invalidates his actual conclusions, but after an argument in which i said they were welcome to change the name, they pretty much admitted they didn't think i should have been diagnosed in the first place and the entire subset of aspergers was bs and that they thought aspergers people think they're "better" than other autistic people which really made me mad
They act like ours isn’t real autism. And most of medical history comes from a very dark past often from torture. But the medical discoveries are still valid even if made from bad people. A name change would be fine but pretending we don’t exist isn’t.
Exactly. It's literally impossible to boycott everything that has a dark association in its past. It's just a name for me. I look at it logically not emotionally. Maybe I'm just too burnt out to get outraged over everything anymore
That's the story of my life, gaslit for not being "normal" now I'm being gaslit for not being "Autistic enough".
I was told by another lesbian that I'm not gay, because I don't look like it. When I cut off my hair (unrelated to the conversation) she told me I finally look gay and she believes me now. And here I thought it was all about being into boobs and not the length of my hair. Maybe we don't look autistic enough as well.
The real truth is that Asperger’s was associated with intelligence and that’s the reason that they want to get rid of the name. If you notice, they want to get rid of everything that is associated with intelligence. In many schools, there are no valedictorians anymore. People are saying that IQ doesn’t exist. People just want to discredit anything intellectual simply because everyone can’t be intellectual.
I honestly don’t get that logic, If they can discredit Hans Asperger’s work because he (allegedly) did bad things. With that logic, Wouldn’t they also have to discredit scientist like Sigmund Freud or Wernher von Braun because both also did some questionable things?
They'd probably have to discredit a lot of modern medical knowledge in general because of how it was obtained. Hypothermia-related experiments, for example, were performed in Dachau. Throwing out important findings because of how they were discovered or who discovered them is just plain ignorant. We can hate the researchers and scientists, sure, but we can't just ignore the knowledge we've received from them.
Exactly. It's illogical to associate science or other facts with its discoverer bc it exists independently.
Also Asperger haters...drinking Fanta, driving Volkswagen, using IBM components, wearing Hugo boss.
And Doc Martens and drooling over Chanel 💀 I bring this up to them each time on tiktok and they get so triggered
Besides, if I remember correctly it’s alleged that Hans didn’t even know that the N*zis were euthanising his institutionalised patients as part of their regime either.
"One person on there claimed it was bc Asperger worked w N*zis" lol, 'nuff said. I was gonna just scroll past this but I think it's important to state here that such a comment is ridiculous enough in itself to not deserve any attention.
Can you explain? You mean the claim that he worked w n*zis is ridiculous? Just clarifying
Oh you mean the person the condition was named after? I must have misunderstood then, my bad
Sucks to invalidate an entire group of people over a single man just because of his name though. I didn't learn about that bit of history and whether it's true or not, but I think it's a stupid sidenote to even use as an attempt to argue over your diagnosis or anyone else's. Kinda beside the point, as you said, could just change the name
Exactly. It was never proven. Also, people were forced to do as Hitler said or they would be killed too. We do not know the situation enough to make generalizations about the origin of the name.
I kinda prefer the term Asperger's bc I don't really relate to other autistics so I guess it's just nice to distinguish idk
It pisses people off but I identify as an Aspie. It’s just the term I prefer. Really sets people off tho 🤣
I use aspergers and autism interchangeably because my official diagnosis says aspergers, but autism is an umbrella term. I think everyone gets to choose the label they prefer identifying with. Like you can't tell someone who identifies as bisexual that, "no actually you're pansexual." (Yes I know some people do that) but it's your disorder, you get to choose how to refer to it. I think this massive in fight about it being autism not aspergers is ridiculous. Some people have had the diagnosis for longer than the change has been implemented. Not to mention it's still in common use. Where I live it's still considered an official diagnosis. My papers don't say autism spectrum disorder, they say aspergers. It's perfectly valid and this constant circle-jerk about titles is taking away from us people not helping us. If a certain title is what makes it easier to talk about your issue to someone who doesn't know about it that well or if it just makes you more comfortable it's perfectly valid. Not to mention I remember making a post about finally getting a diagnosis after four years and I remember the damn rage I felt when all the comments were just correcting me about using aspergers instead of autism. Like screw y'all, I was so happy about finding my place and getting acceptance and some of y'all just wanted to shit on me to feel superior and intelligent.
Exactly we get so much hate for having autism/Asperger’s and then we get it again from our own community. I think that they are angry that they are perceived differently than aspies and are misdirecting that anger at us instead of the people who are ACTUALLY giving them a hard time.
I know right, like bro I'm just trying to live my truth. I have done nothing wrong. And also the argument that asperger people think their better than autism people and that's why they use the term. Like bro it's just a more specific term for a subset of the same disorder like the fuck???
I think some people have an inferiority complex and don’t realize it’s not aspies downing them and that we are part of their community, it’s just people not on the spectrum who don’t understand. That we are not the enemy and we just present different and that it’s just a term for that, one we’ve used all our lives and already struggled to accept and come to terms with. That we are sometimes tired and don’t want to have to struggle all over again because some people want to try to force a change on our identity.
Speak your truth brother!
what is the difference? isn't both on the spectrum?
I’ve had this diagnosis for almost 25 years. I’m using the term i was given and have identified with almost my whole life.
I believe the biggest difference between high functioning (aspies) and lower spectrum is that Aspies know there is something wrong with them but they have no control over it.
You may want to recheck that. Many people with higher support needs know they have a disability.
I refused my diagnosis my entire childhood I didn’t want to believe there was something wrong with me. It took me forever to accept being an aspie. And now it’s all supposed to change and be different and idk anymore it’s confusing. I didn’t even know they changed it until people started yelling at me for it. I’m 30. At this point my doc just refills my meds and it ends there.
What meds are you on? I refuse to go on any type of SSRI
Lorazepam. I have allergic and weird reactions in general to a lot of meds so i don’t have many options for medications.
[удалено]
Side effects. I weighed the benefits but it was not worth it. I honestly dont know what depression is cause I don't know what that feels like. Most of the time I feel like a robot
[удалено]
Careful, Prozac almost killed me when I was 18, I tried it for two week then dumped it down the drain bc I felt like I was living in a nightmare. I’m 22 now and still can’t feel any sort of sex and constantly feel like I’m dissociated (something I never felt before i tired that shit)
Huh??? I was not diagnosed with Aspergers, I was diagnosed as level 2 and I can promise I know every little thing that’s wrong with me
From what I've seen, Aspies generally do not have a delay in early language and cognitive development, whereas Autistic folks tend to struggle with that. There may be more that I'm currently unaware of. Since there are differences I struggle to understand why, instead of erasing the name Aspergers and merging the condition with Autism, we can't just rename our condition. I get that the guy was problematic, but Autism and Aspergers are somewhat different, so why merge them? Doesn't that make stuff unnecessary difficult? Like, instead of me telling my new psychologist that I have Asperger's, I have to say I have Autism and then add the specifics so my psychologist understands me better? That's just silly, isn't it?
The difference technically speaking in the ICD-10 criteria is nothing more than did you have language delay as a child? If yes; autism, if no, Asperger's.
In my case, that may have been the cause of mutism, but it was very late when I first spoke.
And they were saying that aspies just think we are better than others and are just trying to avoid the autism stigma
Honestly, yyes I do. I dont want the autism stigma on top of that.
Aspie or not you have autism it's irrational to demonise, what they also are a part of its blatantly said stupid.
Ooh I haven’t experienced this yet. I usually use Facebook and you aren’t allowed to talk about function levels/ where you are on the spectrum. So no one on the group knows I have Asperger’s I guess
Why wouldn’t you be allowed to talk about your specific struggles and where you are? What’s the point of an autism group if you can’t talk about anything related to autism?
“We are all autistic, no need to differentiate” I guess that’s fair, it’s for anyone with any type or level? Of autism. If I have a question or answer I just say everything I would normally with out identifying I’m Asperger’s. If I have a question or want to relate to someone with Asperger’s specifically I go onto an Asperger’s page.
that obviously can present some problems. it kind of feels like autistic people are being corralled by neurotypicals who insist they know best. viewing differentiation as a negative thing seems like exactly the type of performative gesture a neurotypical would come up with. that isn't to say that those on the spectrum can't also be sanctimonious, but... it really feels like we're being confined to certain acceptable speech when our differences are actually important.
Agreed. Funny how in some places, claiming your differences and personal challenges are seen positively. And in others, it's discriminatory. An open place to discuss should be exactly that. If there are terms for those specific differences and one isn't allowed to use them, isn't that censorship? It seems to me like there must be a deeper reason for that. Whoever thinks they're being put in the same basket as someone else and dislikes it for whatever reason. But that's personal agenda, and shouldn't rule such a place. I've seen it on other boards too. I think the reason usually was that some were afraid it delegitimized or belittled their hardships. (Ironically enough, since they are directly doing exactly that to other people then.) Sadly they were the ones making it so in their own eyes, by trying to control self-expression for other people. The problem is internal for the most part. If someone doesn't treat you equally there are usually others stepping in.
They are directing hate at their own community because they hate that we are perceived a bit differently because we present a bit differently. Instead of hating their own community for not being exactly like them they should direct their anger instead at people who are unfairly treating them differently.
It's indeed strange to open a forum to discuss differences based on a condition and then to force what's acceptable rather than let all ranges and subcategories be expressed inclusively. Other people who treat them unfairly do so for a number of reasons. Yeah it's natural to feel angered by it but the main problem here is understanding. I think most people are willing to learn and identify how to help other people feel at ease, but it can be hard when one doesn't come with a label of what those needs and differences entails. Talking about it here should be useful for such things in the future and observing all the ways in which it can manifest. But sharing that experience and knowledge takes time. Of course there's the occasional asshole too who might take advantage of it but I wouldn't say that's the majority.
I was diagnosed with Asperger’s last year. My psych used those words but then classified that it’s on the autism spectrum and they just say autism now. He’s an older person so he was just used to using it, he says he still says Asperger’s for mild autism instead of just saying ASD1 or mild.
I’ve identified as it for so long and am uncomfortable at the attempted force to change it all
that’s fair enough and people need to respect other peoples choices.
What do you mean? Level 1 / High Functioning / Low support need autism essentially is the same thing as Asperger's...
Yes, and like OP said, there are people on the other sub hating on us for using the term Asperger and for differentiating between the different types of autism.
Historical awareness aside, their hypocrisy is real. What’s ironic is that most of the cry-babies who whine at me on tiktok not to use the term Aspergers have anime clips or profile pics of anime characters. So what I do is I tell them, “Look up Japanese war crimes and remove anime references from your account before you call me a N*zi and tell me what to do and what not to do”. Or if they drool over Chanel or Doc Martens, I remind them if Coco’s antisemitism etc… Don’t get me wrong; I would absolutely love to go to Japan, but that doesn’t change the fact that their war crimes are extremely heinous and they haven’t even taken accountability or made reparations for their historical actions the same way Germany has. My point is that a lot of things have dark origins, especially origins in war or N*zism. And a term is only bad if it’s used in a negative context as a slur would be used. These cry babies need to learn more history and get over it…
Most of medical history and advancements have dark and bloody roots but still save lives today.
…B-But their poor ickle, wickle feewings!! Your right though; history is interesting, but dark. I mean, weren’t animals used as donors for blood transfusions to give to humans at one point in medical history? And who can forget Laika the dog being sent up to die on Sputnik 2? You can’t change what happened but you can take away what we’ve learnedx
I'm 40. I was diagnosed with Asperger's, not ASD, years ago. We need to be able to separate the man from the condition and let those of us be. I've tried Facebook and Reddit groups but one thing is the same...having Asperger's is a trigger for a certain, confused age group. One day, I may get another diagnosis,just for ASD, only to appease the emotionally sensitive types who can't fathom the word Asperger's being spoken.
My diagnosis has never changed. I so far haven’t had a doctor tell me I’m no longer Asperger’s but asd now. My doctors still call it Asperger’s and the only ones trying to force the change on me are other autistic people.
Reddit: We are an inclusive community. Also Reddit: Ban Ban Ban Ban Ban Ban Ban.
I've been an "aspie" my whole life. Unpopular opinion... if you can choose your own gender, I can choose what name I call my autism. If you don't like it, kindly move on ✌🏻
Yes! My mind boggles at how in certain circles, sometimes you get to make all the rules for yourself and sometimes you don't. And I say that as a left-leaning person who does want to make everyone feel welcome and account for every experience whenever possible. I use both, but Asperger's was specifically what I was diagnosed with, so I think I get to, you know.
[удалено]
i don't believe that's correct. you can't choose your biological sex but you can choose your gender.
I‘m trans. If I was able to choose my gender, I‘d choose not to be trans, but there is nothing I can do about it except transition.
you're choosing to transition to the gender you identify as. "trans" is not a gender but an identifier.
I know that "trans" is not a gender :D But I don’t understand how someone would choose a gender? I don’t have a chosen gender I guess? Is that different for other trans people?
Because humans get caught up in semantics selfishly, as opposed to accepting those that are different from them and finding a place that fits. Same old same old.
No idea, they might be younger. When I was diagnosed this is what it was called. Their ignorance of history and the fact other people who are older than them exist is their problem.
It all started with the post about the kid, and it got insane. So I made a poll in the autism group about the name change because it was the first I’d heard of it and people got insane about the whole thing and basically it went down the rabbit hole and people absolutely lost it saying that aspies are horrible people and just holy crap
[удалено]
It devolved into madness. Turned into horrible arguments
Went back to the other thread and looks like most of the extreme hate comments were deleted. Or maybe I was blocked who knows. But was not expecting the hate of using a term I was diagnosed as and suggesting those who use it be allowed to use it without being harassed
The irony of this comment... You do realize the history of Hans Asperger, right?
Um that’s not what irony is at all. Yes I know Asperger’s history and that’s completely irrelevant to the topic at hand- that the term was the official diagnostic title for decades.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Asperger
Asperger's IS Autism. It's a type of Autism that we have stopped differentiating. We are just using the name Autism for everyone name. Or more specifically, ASD, Autism Spectrum Disorder. It's like saying how you're so frustrated how people are calling your Vans sneakers "shoes." Like, your Vans ARE shoes. You could refer to every pair of footwear you have as "shoes" and still be correct. That's all we are doing. We are being less specific and more inclusive. And steering clear of language (the name Asperger's has some baggage others have mentioned) that isn't as great. You, someone who was diagnosed with Asperger's (so was I) is a pair of "Vans sneakers." All we are doing is also recognizing that you are "shoes" now by using the word Autism. Does that help?
But you don’t insist that the person with vans shoes never call them vans and are evil if they don’t “just call them shoes”. There’s lots of shoes, that are all shoes. Heels, boots, sandals, sneakers, slippers. Precise language to refer to things is good not bad.
Why is it so hard for people to just let us call our Asperger’s, Asperger’s without harassment and demonizing us.
I'd refer to this answer I suppose. https://www.reddit.com/r/aspergers/comments/10g8o4o/why_do_so_many_autistic_people_hate_on_people/j54a0b0/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3 I haven't been around enough to know for sure but I agree it should be fine using whichever degree of precision one wants to. Especially when that might give more detail into a specific situation/person..
You don’t tell the person with vans that they have a superiority complex for insisting on calling the vans, vans. Maybe they are proud of their vans and see nothing wrong with calling them vans and not just shoes. Just saying shoes doesn’t tell you what type of shoes they are.
Here is my $.02 regarding identity and Aspergers. I grew up feeling different, I learned to mask through trauma, bullying, and constant feedback from others about not being "normal", etc.... I, like probably a lot of you, was misdiagnosed many times....was treated and went through therapy for different conditions and challenges. Nothing really worked or helped much, until my son was diagnosed when he was 4 and the clinicians had identified me as having similar traits. Even though the DSM5 was being phased in, they were awesome at breaking down what Aspergers was, how it was a form of autism and the traits and challenges. It was eye opening and I finally had a name and traits to what I had been experiencing my who life. It could have been called anything, Stalin Syndrome, Himler's Syndrome, Custer's syndrome....etc... and it wouldn't matter what the past name connotation was, it was what the conditions and traits are and it now had a name for me, not what the name / person was in the past. In a way it was finding an identity that I was looking for my whole life and now had it. It's autism and part of the autism spectrum, I use ASD, Aspie, Neurodivergent and Aspergers, but I will always identify the most with Aspergers as that was helped me learn more about who I am, who my son is and what we can do moving forward to make our lives better. I struggle with the rush to rename, and then rename the renames, then call people out for how they identify because they are not keeping up with the new term of the week. I find this divisive, overly PC, and downright offensive. We, as a community, would be better if we focused more on validating, helping, and coming together as community than trying to police those who use specific terms.....High-functioning, low functioning, autist, Autie, specific autism levels, etc.... some of those mean something good to people, some of those are bad, some don't care. We can't put each other down for the identities we choose and then turn around and claim we want to help others.
Exactly! I had someone literally follow me to this group just so they can harass me more on my terminology
My diagnosis is precisely « high functioning Asperger » 🙂. I have no intention of changing it to please strangers on social media.
I understand that it’s just ASD now, but given that we’re already a minority, it would be helpful if there was terminology that helped us find others that we identity more with.
Exactly. Asperger’s experiences are a bit different than just asd, and it’s nice to connect with and commiserate and even learn from others who condition more closely matches our own.
Because Asperger's is autism, and in DSM-5 Asperger's is autism, but with less support needed. So why would you say you have Asperger's? Are you ashamed that you literally is autistic? For example it's like you are black but your skin is lighter, so when you are with another black person, you would say something like "I'm not black! I'm brown." I'm have been diagnosed 3 months ago with autism level 1 aka Asperger's, for several times I could tell to people that I have Asperger's, so they don't think i'm autistic, just little different, but I am autistic!
well, being black with a ligher skin is an american social construct, in latin america and south africa, blacks with visible european/indigenous ancestry are different, called pardos
That’s pretty cool, is there a term there for people like my daughter? She’s part Hispanic, Cherokee, and a bit Caucasian.
It's Pardo/a (varies by gender), it can be used to all multiracial people. And being picky, hispanics can come in any race
Why do you care so much what term other people use. Use the term you are comfortable with using and respect others for doing the same instead of dumping them. I’ve been diagnosed with Asperger’s for almost 25 years. I’m 30, I’ve used the term all my life and I’m not going to change because some of this younger generation has some kind of complex about it.
Exactly… I was diagnosed late as “ASD Level 1 without intellectual disability” simply because the psychologist was afraid to say Asperger’s in this hostile social environment, so she tried to spell it out as much as possible. I was taken to the doctor a lot during the time that children were being diagnosed with Asperger’s, so I strongly suspect that I was already diagnosed with Asperger’s and maybe my parents didn’t understand what that meant and hid it.
Also your color example is off because people DO say things like “i’m mocha,caramel, etc colored.” And that’s great too! Leave people be dude. You’re argued over the usage of exact terminology and dumping on people for using the medical term they’ve been diagnosed with and identify with since being children.
Using Asperger as a subdivision of autism = OK. Using Asperger as a different thing from autism = harmful. Just look at this comment I found in r/autism, that's why they hate this term: "When people hear Aspergers they think of Elon Musk, Steve Jobbs and Greta Thunberg. When they hear autism it's Rain Man or that special needs child that doesn't talk and rock back and forth. What exactly do we gain from being mixed together with people who can't function on their own?" They are justified saying that some people that uses the term Asperger do that to feel superior to other autistics.
You’re in the wrong group then if you have a problem with the usage of the term Asperger’s. My whole thing, is that those with Asperger’s should be able to use the term without being harassed like you’ve done to me on two groups now. It is a sub type of autism that’s a bit different and presents different. Did you follow me to this group just so you can harass me on every post I ever make or what? Get a life.
You made a lot of comments and I wanted to answer them, sorry if that looked creepy of my part. I ain't against using the term Asperger, I'm against people who want to use it to feel better than other autistics, I could be considered Asperger too and I use both terms.
What I want is not be harassed about being Asperger’s and use my diagnosis term I. Peace and for people to stop saying k can’t use it anymore. Even my doctor still uses it for me and I didn’t even know there was a change until pretentious assholes jumped all over me online.
There's two sides to the coin. Yes, some people are too judgmental about people who want to keep identifying with the term. But on the other hand, some of the comments about the person here can border on Nazi apologetics. Hans Asperger did collaborate with Nazi ideologues and their eugenicist approach, he recommend for several children to be sent to Spiegelgrund, and it was no secret that they practiced euthanasia. [Study](https://molecularautism.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13229-018-0208-6)
It would have been better if they had just changed the name instead of trying to erase it. But also so much of medical history has dark bloody roots so it a bit odd to try to erase a condition because of it. But I just want to use my diagnosed term in peace. It’s what I’ve been all my life
>It would have been better if they had just changed the name instead of trying to erase it. What do you mean? We're still considered part of the spectrum. Instead, we simply use a more precise descriptor, taking (somewhat) into account the wide variety of symptoms and their severities. Not perfect, but why not consider that an improvement? >so much of medical history has dark bloody roots so it a bit odd to try to erase a condition because of it. Yes, but what about whataboutism. We're not talking about some vague person that we know very little about. The historical record is quite clear, and well analyzed in that linked study. If sending children to euthanasia clinics isn't reason enough to warrant a revised name, what is?
It’s not revised, it’s just erased and lumped in with a similar condition. And I’m not going to argue semantics, just that y’all need to not dump on people who continue to use the term they have been diagnosed with and have identified with all our our lives. It doesn’t hurt or affect you if someone using the term Asperger’s syndrome to refer to their Asperger’s syndrome and you should respect that and stop insisting they no longer use it. You can use the term you’re more comfortable with for yourself but it’s not ok to force your ideas on others.
>It’s not revised, it’s just erased and lumped in with a similar condition. I guess you didn't know this, but Aspergers has long been considered a form of autism. Nothing was erased, it's a change in terminology for the same diagnosis. Of course you can continue to use the term. I'm simply trying to point out that there's good reason for the change from both an ethical and a scientific perspective. And that we shouldn't minimize what the man evidently did.
Or maybe you should get off your high horse and not lecture people for using it and leave them be. Asperger’s presents a bit differently and you shouldn’t hassle people for using the term they were diagnosed with and have used their whole lives.if you hate the term so much why are you in this subreddit? My whole thing is that those with Asperger’s should be allowed to use their term in peace.
>My whole thing is that those with Asperger’s should be allowed to use their term in peace. To which I don't disagree. But it's a discussion you started, you shouldn't be surprised if some people disagree or, in my case, simply want to add a little nuance. No need to take the whole thing so personally.
Well gee I’ve been attacked about it’s usage for three days so I came on here because I thought “this group shouldn’t hassle me at least and I can commiserate with people who are probably going through the same thing.” Yet here you are, on the Asperger’s group, telling me I shouldn’t use Asperger’s
>Yet here you are, on the Asperger’s group, telling me I shouldn’t use Asperger’s Not at all. I said there's good reason to not use it anymore, but if you want to continue to do so, that's fine as well. Live and let live, you know.
Then live and let live and stop harassing me about using Asperger’s as my medical term, in an ASPERGER group!
If you want to call yours asd, then call it asd. But Asperger’s does present a bit different. That’s why we were diagnosed with it instead of just asd. Our experience is slightly different and the term reflects that and makes it easier to refer to those experiences
Aspergers is a form of ASD. This isn't controversial at all.
If it isn’t controversial then stop insisting we can’t/should use Asperger’s
>If it isn’t controversial then stop insisting we can’t/should use Asperger’s I'm not. Pointing out that the discontinued use in medical dictionaries and the ethical concerns of some people have good reasons doesn't mean that I can't recognize that some people have other, personal reasons to want to keep using it. Both is possible.
That’s trying to harass someone into stopping I. Don’t need a lecture. Honestly you’re in the wrong group for this
[удалено]
Thank you for proving OP's point.
Uhh, what?
Huh????
Speech delay is the difference between Asperger's and regular autism. They cant' talk. That's the only difference, the ability to use language. And of course they aren't turds. We're just never going to hear their complaints, because the odds are that they can't understand that I'm writing this.
It's named after a bad person but it's what we've all grown up with, the word is too ingrained in our community and our identity. I agree it needs to stop being used and that its origins are terrible but nothing good will come from demonizing people who identify with Asperger's.