Via Today:
The news that the term “Asperger’s syndrome” will soon cease to exist has some parents concerned – especially parents raising “Aspie” children.
Starting May 2013, the American Psychiatric Association’s new diagnostic manual, known as the DSM-5, will go into effect, stripping the well-known condition – a condition sometimes associated with loner geniuses like Albert Einstein and Andy Warhol -- of its name.
Instead, Asperger’s syndrome will simply be known as ASD-Level 1 (mild), a top rung in the ladder of autism spectrum disorders. For those who viewed an Asperger’s diagnosis as light-years away from clinical autism, this new classification may feel like a fall from grace.
3 comments:
Hi! I'm a 'nut job' with Asperger Syndrome, (now Autism Spectrum Disorder).
I'm not mentally ill, I'm not violent, I'm not someone who can't be trusted with weapons or sharp pencils.
And like other people who have Asperger Syndrome, I DO care about the feelings of other people. The claim that people with Aspergers 'lack empathy' just means that we miss the unspoken social cues that another person is feeling sad or angry or happy, not that we don't care.
Life is tough enough with a disability such as an autism spectrum disorder. It's a pity that media outlets chose to let alleged 'experts' provide misinformation during their coverage of this shooting that will be harming people like me for years to come.
If you feel empathy and only miss some social cues, you are clearly not a "nut job." As for having "Asperger Syndrome," that diagnosis doesn't exist anymore. If someone's only problem is missing social cues, do they really need a diagnosis? That describe half the teenage boys I know; including me when I was that age. The Sandy Hook shooter has much deeper issues than missing a few social cues. He is a unfeeling anti-social lunatic and should have been identified and institutionalized years ago.
My very good friend, my other brother, and his wife have an Asperger's son. I have seen the anger and uncontrolable rages that engulf him. My friend is 6t5, his son just 13. It is a very hard thankless job of trying to raise this boy. Sometimes love is very hard. I worry about this "reclassifcation", and the ramifications of getting help.
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