So I was lurking the website, looking at random old stuff or accounts, and I came across this:
[QUOTE=Ganelon;767344]Well living with Asperger's > living with low-functioning autism. I can 100% guarantee that.[/QUOTE]
I would like to make a point related to this. If I recall correctly, since Autism (of which Asperger's is either considered very similar or the same but just high-functioning) is a developmental disorder, generally the earlier the treatments for it, the better the outcome.
Since Autism is a spectrum -- with a wide range of severity -- it may seem that those with more severe symptoms may be certainly less well-off than those with less severe symptoms. You would be somewhat right, but its not as clear cut for a few reasons.
When it comes to detecting or diagnosing someone, generally symptoms have to be present or severe enough for it to be detected. Without it being detected or known, you can't treat it. Therefore, its reasonable that those with severe symptoms would be diagnosed sooner than those who have less severe symptoms.
What this ends up meaning is that you (I don't have the exact stats here) might find that those with low-functioning autism be diagnosed and begin treatment by the time they're 5, while those with high-functioning Autism might not be diagnosed until they're in or around their teens in some cases. That's a lot of years where high-functioning individuals could have received treatment for their developmental disorder, if they had been detected/diagnosed as soon as people with low-functioning autism were.
At this point, they may have gone through the entirety of elementary school (at least in the U.S. As far as I know; I don't know about other countries educational systems) having your social life aspects and classroom challenges being unmitigated. You may have not received an "Individual Education Plan" (IEP) that may have allowed you a quieter (or less distracting for your senses, given hyper-sensitivity issues) environment for you to learn in. You may have not learned how to make friends or approach situations appropriately (Granted though, that last statement is asking a bit much of a child). [B][I]Worse, if your symptoms are light, some may even reject that you have a disorder even if you were diagnosed by a professional as having it.[/I][/B] (I am hoping this happens rarely, I have no idea how often this happens for individuals with high-functioning autism)
Given that the timing of treatment can determine its effectiveness on an individual, there is an argument to be made that, at least to some degree, those with High-Functioning Autism or Asperger's Syndrome could have the same level difficulties in life than those with more severe symptoms. Obviously, treatment currently cannot solve everything, and in some cases symptoms for Autism can be so severe as to render most of the treatment ineffective (Ex: being very non-verbal / not communicating). And there are certain other symptoms we have no real treatment at all for (that I am aware of), such as "Unusual Sensory Experiences", "Hypo-sensitivities", "Hyper-sensitivities", "sensory over-responsitivity", etc. (There's a lot of different words thrown around to refer to the sensory experiences or whatchamacallits in various studies related to Autism)
So my point is: You're right about individuals with high-functioning autism having it better than persons with low-functioning autism, but the difference can be small or even minimal in some cases presuming the individual with High-Functioning Autism receives treatment later than the person with low-functioning autism. Which normally happens due to the nature of having lesser symptoms rather than high severity symptoms. So i wouldn't agree where you suggest something along the lines of "having high-functioning autism is 100% better than having low-functioning autism". I don't believe in that 100%. Its just not absolute.
So I was lurking the website, looking at random old stuff or accounts, and I came across this:
Originally Posted by Ganelon
Well living with Asperger's > living with low-functioning autism. I can 100% guarantee that.
I would like to make a point related to this. If I recall correctly, since Autism (of which Asperger's is either considered very similar or the same but just high-functioning) is a developmental disorder, generally the earlier the treatments for it, the better the outcome.
Since Autism is a spectrum -- with a wide range of severity -- it may seem that those with more severe symptoms may be certainly less well-off than those with less severe symptoms. You would be somewhat right, but its not as clear cut for a few reasons.
When it comes to detecting or diagnosing someone, generally symptoms have to be present or severe enough for it to be detected. Without it being detected or known, you can't treat it. Therefore, its reasonable that those with severe symptoms would be diagnosed sooner than those who have less severe symptoms.
What this ends up meaning is that you (I don't have the exact stats here) might find that those with low-functioning autism be diagnosed and begin treatment by the time they're 5, while those with high-functioning Autism might not be diagnosed until they're in or around their teens in some cases. That's a lot of years where high-functioning individuals could have received treatment for their developmental disorder, if they had been detected/diagnosed as soon as people with low-functioning autism were.
At this point, they may have gone through the entirety of elementary school (at least in the U.S. As far as I know; I don't know about other countries educational systems) having your social life aspects and classroom challenges being unmitigated. You may have not received an "Individual Education Plan" (IEP) that may have allowed you a quieter (or less distracting for your senses, given hyper-sensitivity issues) environment for you to learn in. You may have not learned how to make friends or approach situations appropriately (Granted though, that last statement is asking a bit much of a child). Worse, if your symptoms are light, some may even reject that you have a disorder even if you were diagnosed by a professional as having it. (I am hoping this happens rarely, I have no idea how often this happens for individuals with high-functioning autism)
Given that the timing of treatment can determine its effectiveness on an individual, there is an argument to be made that, at least to some degree, those with High-Functioning Autism or Asperger's Syndrome could have the same level difficulties in life than those with more severe symptoms. Obviously, treatment currently cannot solve everything, and in some cases symptoms for Autism can be so severe as to render most of the treatment ineffective (Ex: being very non-verbal / not communicating). And there are certain other symptoms we have no real treatment at all for (that I am aware of), such as "Unusual Sensory Experiences", "Hypo-sensitivities", "Hyper-sensitivities", "sensory over-responsitivity", etc. (There's a lot of different words thrown around to refer to the sensory experiences or whatchamacallits in various studies related to Autism)
So my point is: You're right about individuals with high-functioning autism having it better than persons with low-functioning autism, but the difference can be small or even minimal in some cases presuming the individual with High-Functioning Autism receives treatment later than the person with low-functioning autism. Which normally happens due to the nature of having lesser symptoms rather than high severity symptoms. So i wouldn't agree where you suggest something along the lines of "having high-functioning autism is 100% better than having low-functioning autism". I don't believe in that 100%. Its just not absolute.
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Originally Posted by Ganelon
