“ABA-therapy”
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Do some research on ABA, which is widely used both in the US and Europe.
One of the pioneers of ABA, Ole Ivar Løvaas, openly used it in the 70’s as gay conversion therapy.
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I work with ABA. (Not on homosexuals 
)
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I guess the question with Asperger is to fit the diagnosis with learning disability. Wouldn’t it therefore not fit the diagnosis and become something else? For instance someone can be diagnosed with emotional instability disorder but also bipolar. They are both emotional regulation issues. However one tends to be chemically triggered and the other emotionally. (Though that is definitely an over simplification). Now there is some potential for overlap however they are very different. (Never mind the sub categories of both).
Now take the example of autistic savants. They tend to fit the diagnosis of autism. However their obsessive trait is a large factor. To the point of being a massive gift. However there tends to a massive impairment to their life. Now is there the same savant level in Asperger? A subjective question. Now take the fact that as mentioned they might have adhd or Tourette’s. ok sure. But I don’t think that is co morbid or affects the primary diagnosis. I hope you understand what I mean. These are additional attributes. As mentioned before. People are unique. Are they categorised as learning handicap I.e lower IQ. ?Or are they issues that may happen to affect concentration etc. Food for thought. I don’t know the answer to that.
Of course it’s not inherently bad, it’s a matter of the clinicians ethics.
I had no idea. You learn something new every day…
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When would that be? That society sounds nice, but it’s not here, now. For as long as we live in a society that does impose norms and expectations, it seems important that we have ways to support people who have significant difficulty dealing with those norms. Expecting neurodiverse people to wait until we’re all free and accepting and open seems like cruelty.
I think it’s important to note that you talk of ‘human neurodiversity’, but this very concept has been arrived at through the very study and categorisation that you seem opposed to. If we hadn’t defined things like autism, and put great effort into studying them, we wouldn’t have arrived at the idea of neurodiversity.
So, if we’re avoiding that study, how do we as a society come to an understanding that is the result of that very study?
You’re using the present scientific understanding of these matters to condemn the scientific enquiry of them as a whole.
I understand the concern - these sciences and premature conclusions they’ve arrived at have caused untold hurt. As others have pointed out, we’re coming more and more to an understanding that, like sexuality and race, these are not things to be ‘cured’, but we have come to that understanding through science too.
I can condemn the earlier diagnoses of homosexuality, and condemn the chemical castration of Turing and thousands of others, and hate ‘conversion therapy’, but none of that erases my queerness, and I would hate to live in a world where nobody spoke of their queer experience, what it’s like to be them, to feel different in a heteronormative society, and so on. Hearing other peoples’ ‘diagnosis’ as LGBTQ+ has helped me greatly to understand my own experience and my own selfhood.
In the same way, a quick look in various forums and social media conversations shows that neurodiverse people largely feel the same way - the science has often been wrong and is still largely incomplete, but the understanding we have at the moment increasingly allows them to understand themselves and to live happier lives.
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I would say that is not in question but a verifiable fact.
To oversimplify things, a way to differentiate between individuals with savant-like abilities (or not) on the spectrum is if they had developed spoken and non-verbal communication in a timeframe similar to that of a neurotypical child, or not. If they did (Bill Gates, Gary Numan etc) they are most likely in the Asperger’s camp… if not (Ken Peake etc) they tend to be aligned more with the classic Autism/PDD-NOS side. But as stated earlier, there is fluidity anywhere in between. As you hear often in the community, when you have met one person with Autism, you’ve met ONE person with Autism.
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Correct. I have met many people with many mental illnesses I bear that in mind with what I said. I have been volunteering since I was a child with people struggling with all forms of mental differences. Also my family have quite the history. I am simply stating my opinion. I am again looking at what criteria are met for specific labels. Even to doctor to doctor , even with the dsm. It is open to subjective opinion.
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This thread reveals the disparity of societal understanding of what autism is beyond the DSMs wording. For all the positives you cite for a diagnosis (which for the most part i agree with), labelling an individual autistic can be detrimental to their development, to the extent they blame the label on certain behaviours when sometimes it’s nothing to do with that whatsoever. this can worryingly perpetuate myths such as all people with autism; have no self control, can’t read social queues, have savant like abilities, cannot change.
I know this concern and know (and know if) people where this is a real problem.
Issue is, I know a good few people who are for the most part neurotypical and refuse personal responsibility for problem behaviour and use any tenuous reason to support their behaviour (‘if you can’t take me at my worst you don’t deserve me at my best! Teehee’).
So I’m not sure there’s much to be gained from that line of argument other than ‘you don’t get a free pass to be a dickhead’ and at least if we’re talking diagnosis and pragmatic responses, we can better equip all people to take care of that.
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There is, of course, a flip side to this, where a diagnosis (especially for children) can help individuals and their parents get the services they desperately need, to join a vast community of others with ASD and their caregivers with an immense amount of knowledge and support to share, and to give hope and a roadmap to success by examples of others who lead full lives with the diagnosis.
Sorry I’ll get off my soapbox now… fresh off an ASD conference with John Elder Robison and James Durbin and still fired up 
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Today I finally got confirmed that I’ll get an ASD-diagnosis. I’m so relieved the experts confirm what I thought I saw very clearly the last few months. Having a cold one to celebrate
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Happy for you, I hope this diagnosis feels like validation for who you are.
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Hii ! I have a 6 years old autistic son who discovered this Black MIDI music on youtube , he really enjoy those videos and get over excited with them, at the beginning I changed them, cuz I find them annoying and that could affect his mood or behavior. But then I decided to do a research about and I find this comment.
Please tell me more about this community online you mentioned.
Two books that can add some clarity and understanding to this topic.
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I think the community is on Discord somewhere, but they did use to do things through youtube. Other than review some of the early discussions and stuff to make sure it was a safe environment I pretty much left him to it to explore. Honestly Im not too sure he participates that much anymore. I think some of the software he used doesn’t work on newer ipads and he slowly moved away from it.
I did get him a laptop and tried to suggest looking into alternatives but Im sure you know once there mind is made up there isn’t much you can do.
He still has a youtube channel but posts more of him playing video games now.
It was a good experience where he had to learn to do things for himself which sounds little but was a big step for him. If your son likes it I wouldnt discourage, you’ll just need to learn to switch off from it. It made my son happy and I didn’t notice any adverse effects from him watching and seeing him investing time i to something specific was brilliant.