My favorite ASD related article.

[BrokenBoy]

Is Everyone on the Autism Spectrum? -- New York Magazine - Nymag

This article calls out the armchair diagnosis of celebrities and historical figures and critiques the former DSM (The article is very U.S centric so it doesn't mention the ICD at all) Aspergers diagnosis for having too much "false positive" cases due to very liberal symptom criteria also causing non professionals to "diagnose" every socially awkward basement dweller or asocial but gifted person with ASD.

My favorite part where it points of the flaws in thinking that most people with ASD change/revolutionize the world for the better as it points out that the mass majority of people with ASD live with family, are unemployed and not married and have average IQ's, laying waste to the idea that revolutionary figures such as Einstein or Bill Gates or some other genius had ASD.

If there was no autism the only thing we would miss out on is 4chan, lolcows, and internet memes and that's about it.

What do you guys think of this article? Do you like it like I do?

 

[Aspychata]

Enjoyed reading that. Thanks for posting that. It is interesting how it sometimes seems the malady du jour. That was extremely long so l skimmed parts of it but seemed to be thoughtfully written.

 

[tducey]

I think everyone does have a bit of Autism in them as the quirks of Autism can be found in all of us.

 

[BrokenBoy]

I think everyone does have a bit of Autism in them as the quirks of Autism can be found in all of us.

I disagree. You can cherry pick any part of someone's personality and say that's an "autism quirk". The real difference between an autistic and a NT is the "quirks" cause clinically significant distress and inability to function in social, educational, and occupational settings.

 

[NothingToSeeHere]

I got bored a few paragraphs in and stopped reading so I'm going to say "no", but some of the points you have picked out are pet peeves of mine. Armchair diagnoses of historic and famous figures is an effort in futility and I hate it when people state these so called diagnoses as fact. Also the "without autistic people we would all be living in caves" trope, saying that autistic people are the only ones capable of being inventive, thinking outside the box, or putting dedicated effort into a project, is almost as annoying to me as the "autism is the next stage in evolution" rubbish some people spout.

 

[SusanLR]

My house share partner says he thinks everyone has a little Asperger in them too.
Yes, everyone has their own little quirks, but, I agree @BrokenBoy it is when the quirks cause
clinically significant distress and inability to function that it is ASD.

There may have been some genius' with it, but, they are just a few that have been noticed compared
to the majority who are living at home, not making a living, and not meeting societal social abilities
along with suffering from comorbidities that prevent living a life as one might want.

 

[Alexej]

A propos everybody being on the spectrum - which is something I have heard often. I like the take of this article

 

[Nervous Rex]

I found this to be a very well-written article. I was a bit confused about all the DSM-IV references and no mention of the DSM-V, but then I saw that it was written in 2012.

I think that the article has identified a very real phenomenon - it's too easy to point at someone who isn't "normal enough" and say "autism." I think this happens because it's easier to label someone than to understand them. Society does this for everything. It's easier to label someone a Catholic, agnostic, Republican, Democrat, etc. than it is to take the time to get to know someone. Seeing a few quirks in someone and labeling them autistic is an easy way to explain it without having to actually think about it.

We all try to categorize the world (and people) around us to make them easier to think about. It's how we're wired and it takes constant, conscious effort to not do it. Just this weekend, I updated my status on this site to say that I wished there was more acceptance for neuro-diversity and I also wished all my light fixtures in my house used the same type of bulb. I was facetiously pointing out my own hypocrisy - I want others to take the time to realize that we're not all the same, but I also want things around me to be all the same so I don't have to think about them.

 

[Nervous Rex]

I think everyone does have a bit of Autism in them as the quirks of Autism can be found in all of us.

I disagree. You can cherry pick any part of someone's personality and say that's an "autism quirk". The real difference between an autistic and a NT is the "quirks" cause clinically significant distress and inability to function in social, educational, and occupational settings.

This is a topic that I think I only recently got settled in my mind. It's been too easy for me to see traits in others and think "well that person could be on the spectrum." That is, I am suffering from the exact same phenomenon and lazy diagnosing of others that the article is pointing out.

The way I've settled it in my mind is to realize that there is a full spectrum of traits and that there is an arbitrary cut-off line set by some doctors to say "This is autism. That is not."

One consequence of establishing a cutoff line on a normal curve is that anyone who doesn't know where the actual cutoff line is (i.e. anyone who's not an expert in autism), will identify someone who is close to the line but not over the line as a false positive. And there will be more false positives than actual legitimate cases.

Also, my rough diagram above just represents one trait. You need several traits to be diagnosed. So, a more accurate diagram would look more like this:

So, I am okay with saying, "That person has a trait in common with autism," knowing that it doesn't mean "That person is autistic." I also must acknowledge that saying that can be misleading to those who just want an easy way to label someone, so I will try to limit the people I say it to and say it about.

 

[Varzar]

The real difference between an autistic and a NT is the "quirks" cause clinically significant distress and inability to function in social, educational, and occupational settings.

You're essentially trying to divide the spectrum into high and low functioning.
If a higher functioning person manages to cope with their distress, and find masks to deal with social, educational and occupational settings, in essence learning to "deal with it", then they are no longer AS? I certainly don't agree with that.
I suppose this could play into the argument in that article that Aspergers and Autism are two separate things... Although I'm not sure there's any benefit to creating more divisions, more labels, for what essentially is a similar set of things...
We don't suggest a sunburn is not a burn just cause you can deal with it yourself and it doesn't require a trip to the hospital (most times), whereas second and third degree burns are the only "real" burns because you really need to visit a doctor for them..

I do agree with the calling out of various present and historical figures as AS.. We can't know that..
Someone on these forums once referenced AS traits as being a bit like an iceberg.. You can see some of the traits above the surface, but the majority of it lies hidden under the surface.. So, looking at people in the present or in history, and picking out a few AS-like traits is just seeing some surface traits, and it doesn't tell you anything about what's going on in their heads..

 

[BrokenBoy]

You're essentially trying to divide the spectrum into high and low functioning.
If a higher functioning person manages to cope with their distress, and find masks to deal with social, educational and occupational settings, in essence learning to "deal with it", then they are no longer AS? I certainly don't agree with that.

Neither do I. But it's important to realize that just because symptoms "go away" due to whatever treatment the patient recieves, they still have the condition and the symptoms could come back at anytime depending on what happens.

It's also worth noting despite the fact I have ASD-1 and I mask I'm hardly "functional" regardless. Masking itself can be distressful and feel like a chore to the point that one might think it's not worth it.

 

[Varzar]

Neither do I. But it's important to realize that just because symptoms "go away" due to whatever treatment the patient recieves, they still have the condition and the symptoms could come back at anytime depending on what happens.

It's also worth noting despite the fact I have ASD-1 and I mask I'm hardly "functional" regardless. Masking itself can be distressful and feel like a chore to the point that one might think it's not worth it.

I probably wouldn't be considered terribly functional either at 16... I essentially lost my first job because I was not remotely good at interacting with my manager.. But at 41, well I've had a couple extra decades of practice and learn.. It's *mostly* not distressful anymore.. And I would guess if someone were to look at me, they probably wouldn't be able to tell I'm AS.. I can hide very well. Only one person (a close friend) ever asked me straight out if I was autistic, and that was after I opened up and told him how I think/feel about things.. Essentially, I dropped my masks with him..

I guess words like "clinically significant distress", and "inability to function" start to sound like you can only be AS if it's greatly inhibiting your life.. But I think there's many on the spectrum that learned to get by, and have gotten by, for decades before they even started diagnosing things like Asperger's (or ASD-1).. We still have issues dealing with things, but probably no-one would classify them as clinically significant or a disability.. I'd be very surprised if they did anyhow...