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Friday, February 12, 2010

Asperger's = Autism?

Oh no, aspies! I just heard the bad news that "the man" is basically trying to kick your unique diagnosis to the curb and lump you amongst the (relatively more) unwashed masses (i.e., auties). I hope this doesn't jeopardize your social status amongst your neurodiversity cohorts! A reader flagged this New York Times op-ed for me:
Many people with milder symptoms of autism have, for the past 20 years or so, received a diagnosis of Asperger’s disorder. Some autistic adults call themselves “Aspies” to celebrate their talents and differences. And many parents have embraced the label because they have found it less stigmatizing, and so it has eased their sense of loss.

This may soon change, however. The American Psychiatric Association, with its release this week of proposed revisions to its authoritative Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, is recommending that Asperger’s be dropped. If this revision is adopted, the condition will be folded into the category of “autism spectrum disorder,” which will no longer contain any categories for distinct subtypes of autism like Asperger’s and “pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified” (a category for children with some traits of autism but not enough to warrant a diagnosis).
Wow, there goes your social life, right? It's just like when your rich parents got divorced and you had to move to the wrong side of the tracks with your mom and shop at flea markets for your black leather jacket and army boots that were so ugly and ill-fitting, they distracted anyone from seeing the pain/shame inside. But don't worry, aspies, I am diagnosis blind when it comes to personality disorders. I accept all empathy-challenged types here. Small comfort, you say? Yeah, I know that you have traditionally considered yourself too good for sociopaths, but this may be as good of an offer as you are going to get now.

30 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. It is cute.

      Jealous of a number of things.
      - social acceptability
      - people born into wealth
      - people who have a solid conception of their own identity (even if its an illusion)

      You feel resentful and that you deserve so much more.
      So you feel relieved when a group that had an advantage in some ways over you goes down a couple notches.

      None of it really matters. AS was basically really smart autistics.
      There still are really smart autistics. Nothing changed.

      But who gives a damn if some group is more socially acceptable?
      Social opinion is worthless beyond its ability to enable your own will.
      P

      Delete
  2. empathy-challenged?

    damn right. would rather still be that than hollow though.

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  3. Another hit to Aspie pride ... how sad. At any rate, you are who you are. However emotionally, socially or cognitively impaired (or unique?) you may be. Best wishes to the Aspies on their transition to the Autism spectrum.

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  4. The aspie in me thinks you're funny =)

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  5. That's sweet.

    Here is another article from
    CNN:


    The aspie thing is kinda silly in a way though I doubt any further defining will affect the way some people have taken to identify themselves.

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  6. I am a little surprised that there hasn't been more discussion on this blog about darkworking/left hand path. Though it seems sociopathy and darkworking are not quite the same (i have a feeling many S are "DW masters" and encouragers), as many with conscience and empathy may be drawn to this path, a lot of the extreme self love based logic seems to have something in common with S thought.

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  7. aspie said, "Here is an interesting site."

    Yeeaaahhhh... I have been to that site before. She lost me at "SOCIOPATHS ARE DEMONIC NON-HUMAN ENTITIES." Seriously? Plus she says that statement and others like it comes from a formerly, in her words, dyed in the wool atheist. More like a dyed in the wool moron. Sometimes I still find it breathtaking to ponder the fact that the world is full of imbeciles like that. It's absurd almost. I keep expecting Ashton Kutcher to come barreling around the corner yelling that I've been punked...

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  8. "She lost me at "SOCIOPATHS ARE DEMONIC NON-HUMAN ENTITIES"

    I think the author may be male.

    Do you have any experience with darkworking Daniel?

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  9. "Do you have any experience with darkworking Daniel?"

    I do. It is one of the many ideas that I have explored and discarded down through the years. It’s somewhat interesting but in the end, it is too “metaphysical” for my taste. I have junked all conceptual models that depend on New Age clap trap to be viable.

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  10. it reads like new age clap trap. the demonology site is more entertaining.

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  11. It may be new age clap trap, and sort of silly in parts, and an attempt at mind control, but much of the logic presented for this way is the same type of logic many S's "describe" when explaining their motivations and thought processes/experience imo.

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  12. will that mean no more rx? i dont see the drug companies allowing it.

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  13. I'm starting to think that you are mocking us, M.E.
    You know, not all aspies are self righteous folk who think we're better than sociopaths. I certainly am not. I would say that I am better than most people but I would know better than to make a blanket statement regarding two diverse groups of people. Perhaps you ought to specifically attack those who display a holier than thou attitude rather than lumping all autistic together as a bunch of elitist neurodiverse hating jerkwads.

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  14. Hello everyone -- I'm Asmoday, the writer behind the Darkworkers site. Happened to be checking backlinks and stumbled across this comment thread...

    Yes, I am male. But, I'm a little confused here -- the quote "Demonic Entities are Non-Human Sociopaths", is that attempting to quote me? I've never written that or made any sort of claim in that direction.

    And, in self-defense, I'm not a sociopath. I have a conscience, and on the Path (which is just a reverent name for the philosophy), if you feel guilt or remorse, you are required to honor the feeling, learn, and adapt. But, you're right in that the path discards a fixed, universal morality or the notions of "right" and "wrong" in general.

    Hope that helps.

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  15. Hello Asmoday. The phrase I criticized came from another website, transsociopathica.blogspot.com, not to your site. In fact, everything I said was in reference to that site. It looks like that blog may be gone now, thank the maker. It was painfully stupid.

    if you feel guilt or remorse, you are required to honor the feeling, learn, and adapt.

    I think that is one of the reasons I discarded this idea of darkworking. Besides the metaphysical stuff darkworking is normally attached to, stuff which I have no use for, I discovered to my chagrin that I don't appear to have much of a conscience.

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  16. Hello everyone.
    Since I'm from Europe, I don't quite understand most of the stuff you are talking about, the "classfication" of terms is totally new to me. I hope after haing read all the posts that will clear a bit, but I do have a lot of questions like:
    To your (personal and educational) knowledge, is a sociopath born without conscience, lives without one and dies without it?
    If so, can a "normal" person loose it?
    I have experienced some strange personal transformations in the last 6 years or so, and am also undertaking a doctoral study in social psychology, so my interest is dual.

    Thanks, Josh

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  17. You may want to comment on a more recent post if you want a response. There's not a whole lot of commenting after a post is old.

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  18. I often touch my pee parts and then sniff. Bear in mind that I only shower once a week and do A LOT of Autistic stimming. The smell is perhaps yet another stim. Stiffing my hand relaxes and calms me.

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  19. I have the aspergers diagnosis, but i never felt that i had much in common with aspies. In fact, most of them piss me off.
    As if being grouped with aspies wasn't bad enough, soon I'll be grouped with full-blown autists? I'd rather test positive for HIV than autism, honestly.

    Hopefully I can get a different diagnosis once this change takes place. Something more respectable like sociopathy or NPD.

    If they go through with the deliberate insult of branding me an autist however, I will retaliate.

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  20. The only part that worries me about the naming merge is that the higher-functioning auties who still need help might no longer be eligible.
    Other than that, I'm pretty comfortable with the whole spectrum being grouped together. It never seemed logical to have two different words for something that can't be divided clearly in the first place.
    I wonder if my mother will stop telling everyone and their cousin, "My daughter has VERY high functioning Asperger's. It's like autism, but there's a spectrum and she's VERY mild." (She tells me she brings it up in the first place to get sympathy. That angers me on multiple levels.) I tend to correct her, "Actually, the diagnosed Aspies on WrongPlanet who are genuinely high functioning can, you know, FUNCTION. Their lives are in much better order than mine, they accomplish things, and they don't have to constantly explain to everyone that they aren't stoned, mentally retarded, or serial killers. I'm probably more like medium-functioning autistic." But I seriously doubt anything will change for us.

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