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End of the use of the name Aspergers
- Thread starter Keith
- Start date
The autism spectrum disorder has many ways of being manifested.Asperger's Syndrome applies to a select grouping of auties who got their ride on the spectrum. I read that they were attempting to provide support for aspies who would have not gotten support like a classic autie but still needed it.
The pay grade is written according to possible needs so I feel it is flawed as well
The pay grade is written according to possible needs so I feel it is flawed as well
The Penguin
Chilly Willy The Penguin
Someone told me the Province of Nova Scoita which is where I live was planing to. Other regions may be doing the same so I would assume you are correct.
BuskerSteve
Well-Known Member
I don't really think the so called experts have figured out the terminology yet-
the get out clause is that you (?we?) are all on an Autistic Spectrum and each and everyone is unique/different. So a specific label is somewhat impossible to impose.
If you do a a literature review on Aspergers all will be revealed-(How the labelling/termology has changed over the years) -however its not very helpful if you what specifics to help figure out life.
Finally does any one diagnosis the experts to check if they are on the Autistic Spectrum? and if not why not??-
Also what spectrum are they supposed to be on?-This NT (Neural Typical) phrase/jargon- who has invented this phrase? -can the experts define what is NT is or are they still working on the terminology.?
the get out clause is that you (?we?) are all on an Autistic Spectrum and each and everyone is unique/different. So a specific label is somewhat impossible to impose.
If you do a a literature review on Aspergers all will be revealed-(How the labelling/termology has changed over the years) -however its not very helpful if you what specifics to help figure out life.
Finally does any one diagnosis the experts to check if they are on the Autistic Spectrum? and if not why not??-
Also what spectrum are they supposed to be on?-This NT (Neural Typical) phrase/jargon- who has invented this phrase? -can the experts define what is NT is or are they still working on the terminology.?
Psychology as it applies in therapeutic situations is (in most practices) generally moving away from "concrete" diagnoses such as one sees in the DSM and more towards catering to individual needs, recognizing that individuals are...well, individuals. The DSM is only really used these days to determine eligibility for disability or special accommodations, and I think many evaluators have started using it rather liberally.
AdamR
NT partner, often in awe and rarely disappointed
In the States, Asperger's is now diagnosed as Autism Spectrum Disorder through the DSM-V. In most other nations, the diagnostic manual of choice is the World Health Organisation's International Classification of Diseases (ICD), which is due for its next release in 2017. It is as yet undetermined if this system will follow suit, though resistance in the global psychiatric community seems rather strong, from what I've been reading.
There are a great deal of American physicians and researchers who fundamentally disagreed with the folding of Asperger's into the more general heading of ASD. I am British, but it is my understanding from various sources that many American doctors are still notating Asperger's Disorder in patient files, whilst they use classification 299.00 Autism Spectrum Disorder for coding purposes. It seems they recognise something the APA doesn't. More on that in a moment.
Wyverary is correct that the DSM is generally used by mental health practitioners for the purposes of determining "eligibility for disability or special accommodations". However, many doctors are evidently aware that many people--especially affected adults--seek diagnosis for other reasons. For that, I find the elimination of Asperger's Disorder as a distinct diagnosis to be utterly appalling. There is still a fair amount of debate about whether Asperger's is biologically distinct from other Autism, and certainly Aspies share unique traits and challenges that warrant a separate diagnosis, for the sake of clarity and a sense of community.
There are a great deal of American physicians and researchers who fundamentally disagreed with the folding of Asperger's into the more general heading of ASD. I am British, but it is my understanding from various sources that many American doctors are still notating Asperger's Disorder in patient files, whilst they use classification 299.00 Autism Spectrum Disorder for coding purposes. It seems they recognise something the APA doesn't. More on that in a moment.
Wyverary is correct that the DSM is generally used by mental health practitioners for the purposes of determining "eligibility for disability or special accommodations". However, many doctors are evidently aware that many people--especially affected adults--seek diagnosis for other reasons. For that, I find the elimination of Asperger's Disorder as a distinct diagnosis to be utterly appalling. There is still a fair amount of debate about whether Asperger's is biologically distinct from other Autism, and certainly Aspies share unique traits and challenges that warrant a separate diagnosis, for the sake of clarity and a sense of community.
Give it a few years the revised version of the DSM V will put back Asperger's at the notion that it doesn't cover the same issues as HFA and thus any form of treatment for "generic" autism falls flat on it's face.
The removal of ASD in the DSM feels a bit like going to a produce market and having to ask for a citrus fruit if you actually need a lemon. Yes, a lemon is citrus fruit, but the salesman can't really guess you need that lemon specifically, can he? He'll hand you a kumquats and tell you "no refunds".
The removal of ASD in the DSM feels a bit like going to a produce market and having to ask for a citrus fruit if you actually need a lemon. Yes, a lemon is citrus fruit, but the salesman can't really guess you need that lemon specifically, can he? He'll hand you a kumquats and tell you "no refunds".
James K Trefethen
Active Member
My problem with the new system is that everybody is somewhere "on the spectrum." That include NTs. They are just on the other side of "the spectrum." Merging HFA and Asperger's together may have been the right thing to do but coming up with this spectrum thing.... It makes me think of rainbows, leperchauns, and fantastical pots of gold. What in the world were they thinking? We have something now everybody else has, too?
But the notion of the autism spectrum has been around for decades already... that by itself is nothing new. I believe DSM IV already had it (not sure about DSM 3).
I'm totally fine if it's something even NT's have... since that means that I'm not a disorder anymore, but I'm just a person who functions in his own way, just like others do, and any "amends" (for work, school or whatever you have) don't rely as much on autism anymore but rely on me as a person
I still am furious with anyone being described as "high functioning" on the scale. What do we call the people on the extreme low end? Stating that someone is high suggests that others are low, or lower. There has to be a better word to use if Asperger Syndrome must be discarded. As I have stated before, we used to call intellectually challenged people morons, idiots, imbeciles, custodial, trainable, educable, etc. Do we have to use such unkind descriptions? I have an AAS, 2 BS and 2 MS degrees and have had successful careers as a teacher and an RN. And--I am an Aspie. I would hope a potential employer could understand that if I disclosed being on the spectrum, and also sent a work history, that I was on the spectrum AND could function well in certain jobs.
Slithytoves
Oblique Strategist
You obviously have the answer to your question already, Keith, but I can't help but comment (at length, sorry ) on what's happened.
AdamR is right that there has been a lot of resistance to this move to eliminate the Asperger's Disorder diagnosis. One of the most compelling arguments appeared in a paper by McPartland, Reichow & Volkmar called "Sensitivity and Specificity of Proposed DSM-5 Diagnostic Criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder", published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry in January 2012, almost a year and a half before the DSM-V was officially released in May 2013. In the paper, the authors estimated that up to 75% of individuals currently diagnosed with Asperger's would no longer be considered on the spectrum under the new criteria. Their final conclusion:
"Proposed DSM-5 criteria could substantially alter the composition of the autism spectrum. Revised criteria improve specificity but exclude a substantial portion of cognitively able individuals and those with ASDs other than autistic disorder. A more stringent diagnostic rubric holds significant public health ramifications regarding service eligibility and compatibility of historical and future research."
Read that very carefully. It matters. Many prominent figures in the international Asperger's arena agree with this summary wholeheartedly. Imagine if 75% of the members here, who share the same traits, struggles, and experience of life as the rest, to varying degrees, were suddenly gone from our community. Imagine people who have argued in these forums that others shouldn't self-diagnose falling into the excluded group and being invalidated, themselves. Remember the process you went through to discover you were an Aspie, and the relief you felt once you had a name for what you'd been living. Kind of makes you stop and think.
If the consolidation of four diagnoses into one is meant to move the medical community "more towards catering to individual needs, recognizing that individuals are...well, individuals," as wyverary said it, it seems more than a little counterintuitive. What looks more likely is that it was an effort to address the increasing prevalence of all ASDs in the U.S. by narrowing the criteria. As a longtime student of social justice, I know this isn't a new strategy. The U.S. government and affiliated institutions have a well established history of skewing numbers in their favor by purposeful exclusion. The fewer individuals they have to recognize, the less money and effort they have to put into a class of people.
The APA states that the change was made because, "Researchers found that these separate diagnoses were not consistently applied across different clinics and treatment centers" **. When I mentioned this to my psychiatrist, she laughed out loud and said "That could be said of almost any mental health condition. Diagnosis is always subjective to some extent." For the record, she thinks the DSM-V change was a huge mistake.
I would urge all Aspies who feel they have sound arguments for reinstating Asperger's as a distinct diagnosis to write thoughtful letters to the chairwoman of the APA working group that made the controversial decision:
Susan Swedo, MD
National Institute of Mental Health
Magnuson Clinical Center, Room 1C250, MSC 1255
Bethesda, MD 20814 USA
[email protected]
If you live outside of the United States (or not) and are concerned that the World Health Organization may also eliminate Asperger's as its own dx, go to this link and register for participation in the ICD revisions process by clicking "Register to Become Involved":
WHO | World Health Organization
Climbing of my soapbox....
(** http://www.dsm5.org/Documents/Autism Spectrum Disorder Fact Sheet.pdf )
) on what's happened.AdamR is right that there has been a lot of resistance to this move to eliminate the Asperger's Disorder diagnosis. One of the most compelling arguments appeared in a paper by McPartland, Reichow & Volkmar called "Sensitivity and Specificity of Proposed DSM-5 Diagnostic Criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder", published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry in January 2012, almost a year and a half before the DSM-V was officially released in May 2013. In the paper, the authors estimated that up to 75% of individuals currently diagnosed with Asperger's would no longer be considered on the spectrum under the new criteria. Their final conclusion:
"Proposed DSM-5 criteria could substantially alter the composition of the autism spectrum. Revised criteria improve specificity but exclude a substantial portion of cognitively able individuals and those with ASDs other than autistic disorder. A more stringent diagnostic rubric holds significant public health ramifications regarding service eligibility and compatibility of historical and future research."
Read that very carefully. It matters. Many prominent figures in the international Asperger's arena agree with this summary wholeheartedly. Imagine if 75% of the members here, who share the same traits, struggles, and experience of life as the rest, to varying degrees, were suddenly gone from our community. Imagine people who have argued in these forums that others shouldn't self-diagnose falling into the excluded group and being invalidated, themselves. Remember the process you went through to discover you were an Aspie, and the relief you felt once you had a name for what you'd been living. Kind of makes you stop and think.
If the consolidation of four diagnoses into one is meant to move the medical community "more towards catering to individual needs, recognizing that individuals are...well, individuals," as wyverary said it, it seems more than a little counterintuitive. What looks more likely is that it was an effort to address the increasing prevalence of all ASDs in the U.S. by narrowing the criteria. As a longtime student of social justice, I know this isn't a new strategy. The U.S. government and affiliated institutions have a well established history of skewing numbers in their favor by purposeful exclusion. The fewer individuals they have to recognize, the less money and effort they have to put into a class of people.
The APA states that the change was made because, "Researchers found that these separate diagnoses were not consistently applied across different clinics and treatment centers" **. When I mentioned this to my psychiatrist, she laughed out loud and said "That could be said of almost any mental health condition. Diagnosis is always subjective to some extent." For the record, she thinks the DSM-V change was a huge mistake.
I would urge all Aspies who feel they have sound arguments for reinstating Asperger's as a distinct diagnosis to write thoughtful letters to the chairwoman of the APA working group that made the controversial decision:
Susan Swedo, MD
National Institute of Mental Health
Magnuson Clinical Center, Room 1C250, MSC 1255
Bethesda, MD 20814 USA
[email protected]
If you live outside of the United States (or not) and are concerned that the World Health Organization may also eliminate Asperger's as its own dx, go to this link and register for participation in the ICD revisions process by clicking "Register to Become Involved":
WHO | World Health Organization
Climbing of my soapbox....
(** http://www.dsm5.org/Documents/Autism Spectrum Disorder Fact Sheet.pdf )
In my honest opinion the DSM is a financial guide and not much more. Insurance companies are in business to make money,not spend it. If you pay enough people the right amount of money,you can get anything done,possibly a book written about how your money should be spent.
Slithytoves
Oblique Strategist
In my honest opinion the DSM is a financial guide and not much more. Insurance companies are in business to make money,not spend it. If you pay enough people the right amount of money,you can get anything done,possibly a book written about how your money should be spent.
Great for "them", sucks for "us".
In my honest opinion the DSM is a financial guide and not much more. Insurance companies are in business to make money,not spend it. If you pay enough people the right amount of money,you can get anything done,possibly a book written about how your money should be spent.
My greatest apprehension over this particular subject.
That the real motivations behind this "transition" may be fiscal rather than medical in nature.
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