To understand that Autism is NOT a mental illness?

[Oxfordblue]

Just that really, someone posted that autism is a mental illness.
I understand autism to be a different way of thinking/perceiving etc. Not an illness that one may or may not recover from

(My daughter is waiting for an assessment for autism & I would hate her to feel that she 'has a mental illness' & actually find that statement so disempowering. The world needs people to think differently, to challenge ideas that maybe set in stone & blur the idea that one size fits all.)

Battleax
I’ve just downloaded flatliners (2017). I’m sure the main characters would be interested in your experiences with the dead.

People on the spectrum are at particular risk of suffering from mental health issues. The world is difficult enough without being someone with additional needs. But that’s a far cry from saying autism is a mental health condition.

I don’t understand neuro-typicals

Me as well. I'm also convinced it's them that cause all the problems and don't accept difference or have empathy and the autistic people are actually fine. At least that's v much how it works in my life.

Mummy

In the end, whatever you call it, it does cause problems but I don’t think the op is being insulting to people with mental illness.

Autism isn’t an illness becuase you can’t change it, or treat it. It’s part of identity in a way that illness hopefully isn’t.

It's a neurological condition, not a psychological one. This has been well-established for years. Good grief, be glad we are not in France where this fact is so little-known that families regularly have to take their children to Belgium for treatment.

In the end, whatever you call it, it does cause problems but I don’t think the op is being insulting to people with mental illness.

Not if you use the social model of disability. Under that analysis, it’s the inflexibility of the NT world that causes the problems, as Anna says.

An entirely aspie society would work just fine. And making this one more aspie friendly isn’t rocket science either.

Anna, I know.

Whoever it was saying about dead people you amused me greatly, and reminded me of a Terry Pratchett character who was campaigning for equal rights for dead people.

I find it hard to understand the need for set terminology or phrasing.
I have been told you shouldn't say SEN child, but to say a child with SEN, unless they are deaf, in which case deaf person rather than a person who is deaf... IMO you are saying the same thing, a tall person vs a person who is tall, or a green sofa vs a sofa that is green.
But I follow the 'rules' in hopes of not offending anyone.

As such I changed from saying autism/Aspergers to ASD which I was told stands for Autism Spectrum Disorder.

I have had various labels applied to me over the years, SEN, disabled, MH issues etc. As long as it hasn't been used in a derogatory sense I haven't really had an issue with it. Coming to understand the condition/s has been hard but the name not so much.

Mort?

Making society aspie friendly relies on changing people who are the gold standard "normal", plenty of whom are reluctant to make any allowances for any disabled person.

The social model is great to aspire to, but we're a long way off.

We’ve made great strides with sexism, racism and homophobia joy, although there’s still a way to go. We need to catch up a bit with neuro diversity.

Is this a Zombie Thread

OP, YANBU.

I don’t understand neuro-typicals

Add me to that list. I have Asperger's and prefer to say that autism is a condition, not a disability.

I always say that I am disabled by society's attitude towards my condition but I am not disabled by the condition itself.

Battleax, you made me laugh!

We’ve made great strides with sexism, racism and homophobia joy, although there’s still a way to go. We need to catch up a bit with neuro diversity

Yes!

Reg Shoe

Reg Shoe

I haven’t read them for thirty years. I might wrestle them back from the DC and treat myself

Is this a Zombie Thread

Zombies have rights, too, you know!

No it's not a mental illness.

Your statement 'I would hate for her to feel like she has a mental illness' is quite worrying and perhaps seen as insulting to those with mental illnesses. She may well develop a mental illness which is separate from her autism. Hating her to feel that way will not stop that happening and may in fact cause her to pretend that everything is ok.

Such a shame that there is still such a stigma attached to people who are diagnosed with mental illness.

I’m with the deaf community. Autism is part of me, not something I have. I’m autistic. However others may prefer the person first version and that is their choice.

Feeling like she has a mental illness when she doesn’t won’t do her any good.

It’s factual not insulting.

Warning, this thread is not a zombie thread, it’s just about zombies.

Equal rights for the differently vitalled.

Probably more so than people with Autism, Terf

@ “differently vitalled.”

I’m off to the cemetery for a nice debate.