<p>I sometimes will tell people I have asperger’s as a clarifier because that term seems more “user friendly” – I have an IQ in the “superior” range, excel in a full time job, attended a good college, have a handsome and socially adept BF, etc and so forth… no real evidence of impairment in functioning, other than if you took a close work at my schoolwork or had a pretty lengthy conversation with me. People on this forum can probably tell since I post here a lot. You wouldn’t know if you bumped into me at the supermarket today. If you knew me well you might think I was a bit strange but wouldn’t be able to put your finger on it. Hell, my own doctors never figured it out. I wasn’t diagnosed until I was 22 and sought out a specialist myself-- because I was in hell, it just wasn’t obvious to anyone but me.</p>
<p>I find some people are against the change because they don’t want people to be confused by the “autism” label and assume they are lower functioning… while I am sympathetic, I think the solution to that is to raise awareness that not all of us with autism are low or even average IQ and minimally functioning, not to keep confusing and redundant diagnosic labels to protect /some/ people. But, that’s just me-- I suppose I am biased. This is a very contentious issue in the autism community. Many with Asperger’s will not admit they are autistic and reject the “autism spectrum” altogether, they will not go there.</p>
<p>My own physicians, who are well known and accomplished in the field-- I was diagnosed at an autism research center-- chose the autism label for me because of my manner of speech. They said I have an unusually formal way of speaking which is in some ways inappropriate, I guess given the context. In their mind, that meant autism and not Asperger’s-- but I did not have any kind of speech delay, on the contrary, I was a verbally precocious child. Many physicians would disagree with that diagnosis and say asperger’s instead, others would agree with the autism label. That’s what I mean when I say the diagnostic distinguishers are confusing. I don’t know if there even is a consensus. I am not a professional in the field but I am obviously very interested, and I have not been able to come to a conclusive decision about what the difference truly is on a unanimous basis.</p>
<p>I will be watching eagerly to see what happens in terms of services, but I doubt they will change. If anything, I would think it would be easier for students with Asperger’s to get services-- the (incorrect) stereotype that they are always higher functioning than “classic” autists could be working against them in some cases now, though I wonder if that is really happening either. I think it’s just plain hard to get services for most people, if you ask me. Especially for autistics-- nobody, even the professionals supposedly trained to help us, has a clue what autism is. I could shock you with some of the ignorant things medical and psychological professionals have said to me. Don’t even get me started on educators. </p>
<p>EK- interesting post, and also sad. Autism can manifest differently in girls as well, making it even more difficult to diagnose than it already is. We don’t fit the “classic” stereotypes.</p>