Is autism a mental disease?

[Drake_Dercon]

The original flamefusion topic.

This out first: I have asperger syndrome, or high-functioning autism (to what is considered a mild degree). I've known this since I was abut eight and never gave a damn. However, whenever someone hears this, I receive condescension or pity. Getting enough of that as it is (for being openly nerdy), it frustrates me that sometimes a diagnosis colours one's opinion of someone else.

I have been the way I am all my life (as, of course, it's entirely possible to develop autism later in life) and have always held steadfast to the "it's not a disease" argument. To be quite frank, I really never got any of this theoretical downside. I got over all the social problems fairly quickly, and what's better is that I get to keep all the benefits (really great benefits, too; like breezing through school, being incredibly analytical and easy comprehension of logic of any variety). It's almost become a personal point of pride.

Yet, I see that many of my friends at different points along the spectrum (hang around them enough and it can become tellingly obvious to notice anyone who shares your "birth defect") experience much worse social difficulties, and fewer of these mythical "benefits". Frequently they don't notice it (and good on them for it), as I didn't when I had the same issues, but it happens and it can be demoralizing when you do begin to notice it. It disappoints me the amount of condescension and special treatment that is received by people because of social awkwardness, regardless of what's going on inside the head.

So... questions, comments, arguments, funny stories. People with or without. I've really considered it to be an "ignored issue" in society as people consider it a disease like any other (and some go one step worse and say a curable one), so I want to hear anything that anyone has to say on the issue. Honestly, anything is better than completely ignoring the fact that it is one.

 

[Dags90]

Yes. The prevalence of increase intellectual aptitude pertaining to autism is often overstated. Most of the time it just results in people who don't function as well and have nothing to show for it. And people who are disabled because of their autism should receive the appropriate assistance.

I think you're narrowing the broader issue of disability prejudice (or prejudice in general) to something which personally affects you.

 

[Trolldor]

Savant Autistics, as they're called, are the exceptionally fortunate given their condition.

They're also incredibly rare.

 

[RatRace123]

I think it is, but it's more of a social disease and not much of an intellectual one.

Again, I think, I will fully admit that I don't really understand autism, even after reading about it. I feel like I should, considering how prevalent it seems to be these days.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Yes and no. Its a matter of how where on the grand spectrum of the condition a person falls. For major cases it a debilitating mental disease, for much more mild cases its more of a slight annoyance to the point where its negligible. Keep in mind that you fall on one extreme of a wide chasm when you make your argument.

 

[BonsaiK]

I have asperger syndrome, or high-functioning autism (to what is considered a mild degree).

I think autism and aspergers is vastly over-diagnosed depending on country. In places like the USA there's an obsession with diagnosis and people seem to throw around the "A word" like hotcakes compared to other countries. Many other countries only have a few thousand Aspergers cases each. I can see the temptation that both patients and doctors may have to want to "name that illness" - for the doctor it means they can prescribe things and feel like they've done something worthwhile, and not feel like they're profited from wasting the patient's time, for the patient it's extra comfort because if they can define something and put a label on it, it then becomes easier to deal with both practically and psychologically, it's better than running around thinking to yourself "something's wrong with me but I don't know what". In my opinion though, most autism cases that are "mild" are in fact not autism at all, rather they're just someone who hasn't learned certain social skills but has instead invested that mental energy somewhere else, like a pursuit or hobby etc. I've worked with genuinely autistic people before and there's sure one hell of a difference between them and someone capable of making an articulate argument on an Internet forum. Just going on the standards of definition for autism where I live, actual austistic people who are even aware enough of themselves to say "yes, I'm autistic" and understand exactly what that means, let alone type about it, are shockingly rare. So it's very weird for me to see post after post on Internet forums from people claiming autism.

The brain is like a muscle - exercise certain parts of it,and those parts will grow. Don't use certain parts and those parts will atrophy from lack of use. In the case of "mild" autistic people, I think that a lot of these people are just a bit socially stunted, just like I was when growing up, and if those people made themselves interact more socially they would probably get over their "autism" quicksmart given enough time and practice. They'd probably also correspondingly get worse at some of their special "autistic" skills as the brain rewires itself accordingly.

 

[jackpipsam]

it is a mental disease, but there are different levels of it

 

[Mrselfdestruct]

I'd count it as a disease.
Well, Asperger Syndrome I mean.

I have it and I'm not sure exactly how much it's to blame with the way my life is, but...I can barely talk to anyone in a normal way and it has caused my confidence to be extremely low. I wish I could have that "breezing through school" you mentioned but I don't have the motivation to try any more...

I saw some person on another forum make an ignorant statement about it before though....they said that the "simple mode" in MVC3 is made for people who have never played fighting games before and for people with Asperger Syndrome. Made me angry...

 

[Vault101]

Savant Autistics, as they're called, are the exceptionally fortunate given their condition.

They're also incredibly rare.

Whats that?

anyway aparently I have some kind autism (though not aspergers) but you really can't tell, in fact most people I know have no idea, and I can socialise when I put my mind to it, even though Im shy and tend to find it quite painful,

Ive gotten a little better as I got older but found basic things to be really hard to do which mainly required me to intereact with people I dont know, like ringing up places for info (seriously it once took me almost an enitre day to muster up the courage to ring my univeristy)

I used to be alot worse when I was a little kid though, Like I could NEVER go to the shops to buy somthing because I would obsess if I didnt have neough money (that was my worst nightmare) even if I knew I did I simply couldnt, or if the phone rang at home I would freak out if mum and dad werent around because that ment I would have to answer it

anyway although I somtimes find it frustrating that I find certain things so hard, when they are so easy for other people, Im quite normal and you cant tell other than the fact that Im kind of anti-social, and I'm not really caring in an emotional way (Like if somone is upset I'm terrible at giving them comfort it just dosnt come naturally like it dose other people)

 

[Vault101]

I'd count it as a disease.
Well, Asperger Syndrome I mean.

I have it and I'm not sure exactly how much it's to blame with the way my life is, but...I can barely talk to anyone in a normal way and it has caused my confidence to be extremely low. I wish I could have that "breezing through school" you mentioned but I don't have the motivation to try any more...

I saw some person on another forum make an ignorant statement about it before though....they said that the "simple mode" in MVC3 is made for people who have never played fighting games before and for people with Asperger Syndrome. Made me angry...

yeah some idiot posted a while ago describing the way people act online as "autistic 14 year olds" annoyed me since this asshole obviosly had know Idea about what autism was

 

[Jelly ^.^]

Snips

Meh, my girlfriend has mild aspergers, and she's a perfectly normal, balanced human being who I adore. It's not an issue at any stage, although it can be funny at times when she has to double check whether I was really being sarcastic or not

 

[badgersprite]

Is it a disease? Well, yeah. "Dis-ease". Is that necessarily a terrible thing? No. Not really. Not everyone is going to suffer from the worst form of a disease. Not every type of cancer or tumor is life-threatening, for example, but that doesn't mean it isn't a cancer, you know what I mean? I mean, I'm bipolar; I have a mental illness. Am I ashamed of that? No. And, while I do treat it, I probably wouldn't change it if I had the choice. It makes me who I am. That doesn't make it any less of a disease, though.

If all I had were the manic phases that gave me increased social confidence, huge bouts of creativity and seemingly unlimited energy, and I could erase the depressive side that makes me hate myself and act dangerously crazy and suicidal, it would STILL be a disease, even then; it would still be impairing my brain functions in various ways, shapes and forms and be altering my neurological chemistry, or however you want to say it. If all I had were the good parts, it would just be a disease I happen to like having.

But, yeah, the fact that people treat you differently because you have a condition and you don't like that doesn't mean it shouldn't be qualified as a disease because you don't like their misconceptions. That's...very weird logic, and, without meaning to offend, it sounds really selfish that you don't want to qualify it as a disease because you don't suffer from the extreme case of it, especially when you consider the serious problems severely autistic kids have - that they can't speak for years past the normal age group, that they can inflict harm on themselves and others because of the emotional problems associated with their disease, that many autistic people cannot support themselves, or that there are entire schools devoted just to teaching autistic kids because they cannot learn or socialise conventionally.

I don't know, maybe I'm totally and utterly misinterpreting what you're trying to say, OP, because I'm sure that you weren't trying to say anything like that at all. But, really, people will condescend to socially awkward people regardless of whether they have a condition or not. And then you'll have other people who will be just as big of a jerk to you as they would to any normal person regardless of whether you have an illness or not (I really like those people, actually; they're way more fun).

 

[BlindTom]

I thought you had to be able to catch something in order for it to be a disease?

Autism strikes me as being a simple predilection for thinking about things other than social interaction in your spare time. Hence you need to practice more actively in order to fit in. It's exactly the same as how some of us lack the "eye" for drawing or something but we can still practice and reach a significant technical height. To this end I don't see milder cases such as aspergers as being all that debilitating. My girlfriend has asperger's and it's only a problem when dealing with unadaptably conventional fucktards who clearly have more problems than she does, and those are the sorts of people who shit themselves everytime a conversation other than "football" comes up anyway. Nobody important or interesting even wants to talk to those people and they are at their most entertaining when they recoil from peoples "weirdness."

With regards to over diagnosis I can only conclude that a combination of the internet and a desire to coddle people rather than tell them to just try a bit fucking harder has led to people taking shelter in their "disease." As if ugly people or ginger people or short people get the same break.

 

[aPod]

Well I find the last thing anyone with any disability want is pity and condescending glances. So i'll just leave that here, since you mentioned that in your opening paragraph.

 

[viranimus]

I thought you had to be able to catch something in order for it to be a disease?

Actually one of the going theories is that autism in some cases can be attributed to certain environmental conditions during pregnancy. However preliminary work to identify such a root cause has yet to yield specific results, but its clear from the research that seems to be what they suspect is the cause of it. One example is attributed to childhood vaccines. Again, its a slow process to figure out of its a genetic predisposition or something that can be contracted and developed.

But contraction is not the only yardmark of disease. Many conditions are classified as diseases but lack a contraction point.

 

[mindlesspuppet]

The whole damn internet thinks they have asperger's these days.

I'm not claiming OP doesn't. Just pointing out that not only is it ridiculously over-diagnosed, but it's also far too often self-diagnosed.

 

[BonsaiK]

The whole damn internet thinks they have asperger's these days.

I'm not claiming OP doesn't. Just pointing out that not only is it ridiculously over-diagnosed, but it's also far too often self-diagnosed.

Thanks for this. You've just said in two short sentences what I took two long-winded tl;dr paragraphs to say.

 

[smithy_2045]

A lot of the time, it's used as an excuse to be an antisocial jerk, especially on the internet.

 

[Mortat Spartan]

Asking if Autism or any other "levels" of this syndrome is a disease is as relevant as asking "Does the next person think in a different manner than I do?" Autism is basically a syndrome where certain functions of the brain are turned off and other functions are turned on, resulting in some Autistic diagnosed people being smarter than many others, but socially awkward as the main case.

I was diagnosed at a young age with Asperger's Syndrome, and didn't find out until recent years. And to be honest, it makes little difference to me. The most difference I see is that compared to others my age, I talk with a higher vocabulary than most high school students. But past any differences that autism gives certain people compared to the "average" person, I wouldn't consider it a disease as everyone has slight different chemical brain activity, autism is just characterized at having certain higher differences in these chemical activities. It is no different than a slightly smarter person at math or a very talented musician, their brains work differently. The person who excels at math may have the section that is dedicated to mathmatics have higher activity, while the musician has the part of the brain that deals with hand movement higher in activity in order to better play their instrument with better accuracy and understanding.

To those who argue about how autism can ruin certain people's lives, there is medication, just as there is medication for depression, insomnia, ect. Autism is different for everyone, and not always helpful, but I wouldn't call it a disease due to it's uncertain effects person to person. It is a syndrome at best, if not just another way the human brain can be made but differently to everyone else.