this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2024
47 points (96.1% liked)
Autism
6855 readers
134 users here now
A community for respectful discussion and memes related to autism acceptance. All neurotypes are welcome.
We have created our own instance! Visit Autism Place the following community for more info.
Community:
Values
- Acceptance
- Openness
- Understanding
- Equality
- Reciprocity
- Mutuality
- Love
Rules
- No abusive, derogatory, or offensive post/comments e.g: racism, sexism, religious hatred, homophobia, gatekeeping, trolling.
- Posts must be related to autism, off-topic discussions happen in the matrix chat.
- Your posts must include a text body. It doesn't have to be long, it just needs to be descriptive.
- Do not request donations.
- Be respectful in discussions.
- Do not post misinformation.
- Mark NSFW content accordingly.
- Do not promote Autism Speaks.
- General Lemmy World rules.
Encouraged
- Open acceptance of all autism levels as a respectable neurotype.
- Funny memes.
- Respectful venting.
- Describe posts of pictures/memes using text in the body for our visually impaired users.
- Welcoming and accepting attitudes.
- Questions regarding autism.
- Questions on confusing situations.
- Seeking and sharing support.
- Engagement in our community's values.
- Expressing a difference of opinion without directly insulting another user.
- Please report questionable posts and let the mods deal with it. Chat Room
- We have a chat room! Want to engage in dialogue? Come join us at the community's Matrix Chat.
.
Helpful Resources
- Are you seeking education, support groups, and more? Take a look at our list of helpful resources.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Thanks. Is Autism just short for ASD then, or is it different?
yeah it's pretty messy
there was an original condition called "autism" which referred to the stereotypical, ""low functioning"" case where someone has intellectual disabilities and the rest
then a ""high functioning"" variant was labelled, where the intellectual disability was missing, called "asperger's syndrome"
then more and more inbetween cases started being labelled like rett syndrome, CDD, PDD-NOS, and so they had to say "fuck it, it's all "autism spectrum disorder" now"
over time, "autism" has become shorthand for ASD. to avoid confusion, the OG autism sometimes gets described as "classic autism"
honestly it's all a big mess
You're right, that is a huge mess for something that should naturally have a more accurate naming convention. It's understandable why people with it would want to avoid labels about it for some of those reasons as well or be more specific about the labels even. It's also probably a big reason more people aren't honest about having it or even why people probably aren't diagnosed more often and sooner.
Damn.
Thanks for explaining.
The history of it is... interesting and somewhat unfortunate. It at-least helps understand why we've got the mess we have now. The early history of the study of autism is muddled with the politics and hatred of WWII.
IIRC the current diagnostic system is 'Autism Spectrum Disorder' and then there's a level stated. 1: Requires Support; some trouble in social situations, rigid/inflexible behavior, stress during transitions 2: Requires Substantial Support; atypical social behavior, high interest in specific topics, noticable distress with change 3: Requires Very Substantial Support; severe communication deficits, repetitive behaviors, extreme distress when asked to switch tasks
They're the same, ASD serves as the acronym for Autism Spectrum Disorder, Autism is Autism Spectrum Disorder, ASD is useful for short form purposes or specifying it from a medical perspective but they're interchangeable.