Neurodiversity

[violaine]

changing plans - repeatedly, coupled with high speed communication of changes, can throw me into anxiety-

[Andrew, Jr.]

Word Jumbles...I don't need to buy them. I experience them all the time in real time.

Andrew

[violaine]

i have not really wanted a separation of AS, because in my own experiences with living on the spectrum, i am in fact, all over the spectrum- exceptionally high functioning some areas, as well as medium to low.

Eliminating the Asperger's diagnosis won't mean that people in that category will lose access to services, Grinker says. That's because "almost anybody with an Asperger's diagnosis also could qualify for what is called autistic disorder," he says, adding that the change could make it easier for some parents to get help for a child with Asperger's.

Right now, states including California provide services to children with autism but not those with Asperger's, Grinker says. "So removing Asperger's really removes what is a false barrier to parents getting care for their kids."

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=123527833

[Andrew, Jr.]

Violaine,

I think that is why the medical community is behind eliminating this. That way they get their hands on more money for something else. I see it just as politics, pure and simple.

I am high functioning as well. I always get asked why can I be this way but have this disability. Like I would lie about my health. Sheesh. I would love for people to walk in my shoes for just one day. Then they would know how hard life is.

[PearlsNLace]

As both a member of the medical community who has spent long hours advocating for funds to be released for a patients care,

and as a foster parent who has struggled withing the constraints of a broken system to get care for a child underdiagnosed,

I am all for changes that give money to more people. Access to care is vital. I could care less what column the damn x needs to fall on what application to make it happen. What matters is that there is money to get the care needed.

Fighting for money to cover care is exhausting both for families/clients and for the healthcare team. It is exhaustive, repetitive, and often feels futile riddled with few results and occasional miracles when something gets pushed through.

[Jess]

Good article with links to other aspie related articles at bottom...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...567371&ps=cprs

[violaine]

http://wamu.org/programs/dr/10/02/16.php


The Latest on Aspergers and Autism
A move to include Aspergers within the definition of autism has raised concerns of families, physicians, educators and insurance companies. The latest on our understanding of Aspergers syndrome.

Guests
Dr. Fred Volkmar, professor of child psychiatry and director of the Yale University Child Study Center at Yale University School of Medicine and an international authority on autism spectrum disorders. Coauthor of A Practical Guide to Autism with his wife Lisa Wiesner.

Gardiner Harris, science reporter for "The New York Times"

Dr. Edwin Cook, an autism researcher at the University of Illinois Chicago and member of the American Psychiatric Association's work group proposing the changes to their diagnostic manual.