AIBU to want posters to stop saying that someone 'is' ASD?

[JigglyTuff]

It's not a taat because it's across multiple threads. Someone can have an ASD or have autism or even, if you must, be autistic. But no one is ASD.

Yes the grammar is rubbish....

To me, the most important thing...

1.folk are people first!

1. There is a lot of evidence of how people label and speak about things determines HOW they think!

I say 'he's autistic' about ds1 - because he is.

However, I also say 'there's no such thing as autism' - because there isn't - there are autisms - I wish there was more recognition of that - ds1 really isn't particularly like someone with HFA. They don't have the same issues or underlying condition at all. Neurodiversity can really let someone like ds1 down (at best is irrelevant to him) - but that doesn't mean I don't think it's a powerful concept for those who are behind it and for those for whom it is relevant. I get annoyed when people who have very HFA think they speak for my son or understand him more than I do. Their experience of autism is no more relevant to him than my experience of being NT.

Simon Baron Cohen is just welded to his theories which have been shown to not be very accurate. The last time I saw him speak he was talking about research into ASD on Cambridge maths students which made me I don't get the impression he's been within a hundred yards of someone like ds1 - and I don't see his research as relevant to many on the spectrum TBH. He's a big reason why the message about there being autisms not autism needs to be better understood.

My ds was described as having HFA. I adopted this as thought it would help others understand his presentation.

I was wrong.

It led people to think it meant he functioned well.

He does not!

Finally with the right support he is managing well. But take that away and he can't function at all day to day.

He also has a very high IQ. But very specific learning difficulties. His specific LD are severe. They affect his ability to function at an age expected level but not his ability to function day to day.

Ds is disordered! He has massive gaps in skills but support and targeted input for those makes a world of difference.

He saw his GP yesterday who hadn't seen him for 6 months. She couldn't believe this previously pale and frail looking child was the same boy who's grown, has colour and was chatty and laughing.

She could believe that it was solely due to a change in attitude to those supporting him.

So no, he's not an asd. He has a diagnosis of ASC, likes to say he has autism - but that's just a description that explains his brains wired differently.

but that's just a description that explains his brains wired differently.

I like this description

I had severe ASD and it doesn't bother me if people say it that way it bothers me more than it still isn't widely recognised and I receive no support from anyone about it which can make social situations and work hard

Maybe some people hear "spectrum", think "rainbow" and inwardly start singing some tambourine-heavy nonsense.
Well you've got me inwardly singing 'up above the streets and houses, rainbow climbing high....'

Do you think people might be afraid to talk about ASD because they might be afraid of using the wrong terminology or saying something that offends someone.

About 95% of this discussion, while interesting (and exhaustively covered in previous threads), is completely irrelevant to the OP's original question.

It's about the difference between a noun and an adjective. This is covered in primary school. Unless you're going to decide that ASD can also stand for "Autism Spectrum Disordered", ASD is a noun. Saying someone "is ASD" is grammatically horrible and hurts my spergy little brain.

Incidentally, I'm also bipolar, and I hate it when bipolar is used as a noun e.g. "I have bipolar". No you do not. You are bipolar. Bipolar is an adjective. What you have is bipolar disorder.

I'll make this easy.

A noun is a naming word.
An adjective is a describing word.

I am autistic and bipolar and myopic and overweight.

I have ASD and bipolar disorder and myopia and a big fat arse.

Or, if you like person-first, I am a person with ASD and a person with bipolar disorder and a person with myopia and a person with a big fat arse.

Or if you go mega-euphemistic, I am a person who happens to have ASD and a person who happens to have bipolar disorder and a person who happens to have myopia and a person who happens to have a big fat arse.

Additionally.

I am a pedant.
I am pedantic.
I am a person with pedantry.

I can't help it - it's because I am a person who just happens to have an autism spectrum condition!

But you are not pedantry. Which is the crucial fact

Where do you stand on "you is a pedant innit?"

"I receive no support from anyone about it which can make social situations and work hard"
For some of us it makes social situations and work impossible. Even with support, sometimes.

Where do you stand on "you is a pedant innit?"

I'm happy with that as a grammatically correct sentence in the Multicultural London English sociolect. I do like a nice multipurpose tag question, innit.

I'm aware that conversations move on, but in a discussion forum it's always nice to revisit the actual original topic.

AutisticRat . You post made me laugh.
I do not have ASD which is probably a good thing as my English is truly appalling and I'd probably be the type to use the phrase 'Im ASD 😂

polly sorry I've been at work, but no, aspergers isn't fully ditched. They've tried in America, but I know a lot of medical professionals who still use aspergers and follow a different set of books - I was diagnosed less than a year ago and am full aspergers diagnosis.

I was diagnosed about 3 years ago, and my official written diagnosis is HFA, but verbally it was Asperger's

polly sorry I've been at work, but no, aspergers isn't fully ditched. They've tried in America, but I know a lot of medical professionals who still use aspergers and follow a different set of books - I was diagnosed less than a year ago and am full aspergers diagnosis.

Ah, thanks for that. I was initially diagnosed with Aspergers by a psychiatrist. The diagnosis was then taken away by her senior (who incidentally had never met me - his reasons, she's married got kids and works so therefore cannot have Aspergers ).

Fast forward 5 years my counsellor who specialises in autism confirmed I have autism and should seek my diagnosis privately, in order to get the proper support, but I can't be arsed now, at 44 I'm figuring it out myself.

ICD-10 still uses Asperger's. I was given a DSM 5 diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder, but in my report it says that that would equate to an ICD-10 diagnosis of Childhood Autism, rather than Asperger's

Nope, no language delay (but plenty of language weirdness) - it must've been an artefact of translating it from DSM codes to ICD ones. I ended up with "blah blah 299.0 ASD which would equate to f84.0 Childhood Autism" written on there, rather than f84.5 Asperger's Syndrome. Odd, because that part of my report was written by a developmental psychiatrist so presumably he's well-acquainted with the classification systems.

Anyway. That means I get to say I am autism, rather than I am Asperger's

Polly that sucks. So many misconceptions by supposed professionals.