Everyone has by now seen the new DSM-V. It removes a "separate" category for Aspergers and PDD-NOS and puts it under Autism. The end effect is that Aspergers will no longer be considered a separate diagnoses. It was and still is for many a " gateway" diagnosis to autism.
It has been a great benefit to Autistic Advocacy. It allowed those who can almost pass for normal to be identified to join others in advocacy. My biggest fear is that it will encourage under diagnosises. I even fear this is the very intent! The voices of those who wish to control the debate and profit by it have been drowned out. You feel it in their very anger when some of them shout out "you dont really have autism".
Imagine what if that was the original format for the DSM-IV, How many would have gone undiagnosed or even wrongly diagnosed through ignorance of the specialist???
It has been a great benefit to Autistic Advocacy. It allowed those who can almost pass for normal to be identified to join others in advocacy. My biggest fear is that it will encourage under diagnosises. I even fear this is the very intent! The voices of those who wish to control the debate and profit by it have been drowned out. You feel it in their very anger when some of them shout out "you dont really have autism".
Imagine what if that was the original format for the DSM-IV, How many would have gone undiagnosed or even wrongly diagnosed through ignorance of the specialist???
6 comments:
Clever title.
Who is supposed to 'profit' by the new definition?
The usual suspects Geier kirby stillman
Any idea how the Geiers etc. will benefit? As a parent who has had too many interactions with biomed people, it's never seemed to matter at all to them whether their child was diagnosed with autism or Aspergers. The crazy seems to cut across diagnosis lines.
The point is to silence the opposing voices. Years ago Kirby was asked about autism being genetic he laughed it off. it is in the audio area of the autadvo yahoo group i think.
It is a battle over who will speak for autism. Once it is official, they will spread the pernicious idea that it was folded into the autism to make sure it will be more strictly applied. Make no mistake about this is to get rid of the challengers to their authority. It is speak for autism when you can only point to those who cant speak.
I think it could go either way. If the optimists are right, then putting autism in one category--as it should be, as there is no real distinction between AS and autism--will not keep people from being diagnosed but will instead stop people from assuming that autism means autistic people have no abilities and no potential. If this newly grouped spectrum works the way I hope it will, then people will no longer be thought to be hopeless just because they are autistic. Doctors will no longer be afraid of saying "autism" and cop out with the PDD-NOS diagnosis, because now you can diagnose "mild autism" explicitly. Professionals will start seeing more and more people who are diagnosed "autism" and see that those people are capable of learning, and start looking a little more closely at the original "autism" group that they'd been writing off before.
Post a Comment