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.)

I’m howling at “differently vitalled”

I often feel unvitalled, but then we don't get much sleep here....

I have aspergers and have 3 autistic sons. I agree with you OP, and for myself, I don't consider myself to have a mental illness, and I wouldn't demean or take away from others who have got a mental illness. I don't like to think of myself as disordered but I am definitely different from a lot of people in general society. NTs leave me confused, it's taken a long time to understand the way they think, I've only just started getting used to it, having children that are autistic and children that are NT.
However for the sake of support for my autistic children, I do have to accept that it is better, just to get support, to see it as a disorder and to accept that descriptor.
If one of my children went on to be diagnosed with schizophrenia, or bipolar, then I would accept it as being described as a disorder, just to access the much needed support.

WonderBoy has a sleep condition disorder disability b*stard thing

Not sure I understand the oversensitivity to the word 'disorder' though given that this is the terminology being used even in the most up-to-date version of the DSM (DSM-5).

I have a disorder, bipolar. It definitely is a disorder because it does mess everything up, I am unable to do things I would be able to do if I didn't have it. It seriously limits my life and has meant not achieving much.

Dd is straying assessment for ASC. It's not the same, maybe it is a condition, part of her. I'd take it away if I could just like my bipolar, because I witness all the stresses and problems it causes her and us as a family.

@Angelil you know that sensitivity would have done, you didn’t have to say over sensitivity?

2 days ago our dd aged 15 was finally after 8 years in the system diagnosed with both asd and two mental health conditions, mixed anxiety and depression

I never want her to feel ashamed of either label asd which is a neurological condition or the anxiety and depression which are mental health

We’ve fought so hard and for so long just to get here and have encouraged her to own who and what she is

Why must people attempt to attach labels and define, dd is herself unique and beautiful, she has many conditions that describe her but none that will ever define her

Its not a mental illness and YANBU up to where you said

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

DD1 went through assesment for asd too , she actually has OCD so a mental illness, Its not disempowing, we need people to think like her too. She didnt end up being less important or need to be more ashamed because she has a mental illness rather than a developmental disability.

I think the word we need there is insensitivity, Sodding

WonderBoy I rather think you’re right (I’m kicking myself now )

Oh well, Sodding, that saves the disablists a job

Neurological difference. Neurodevelopmental difference.

I have social differences, differences in communication, sensory differences.

I just say autistic or autism. 'I am autistic' like 'I am female'. I avoid all the other words like condition, disorder and so on.

1. would hate my daughter to be label with the term mental illness as she doesn't have one.

2. I would hate my daughter to be given any incorrect label.

3. my daughter had/has/develops a mental illness, putting her into that category is fine.

She may or may not have a processing disorder- I'm not sure where that stands. It doesn't seem to fit with CAHMs though.

Also CAHMs stated she doesn't have any mental health issues or anxiety.

To those that don't know, (we us anyway) CAHMs direct you to the relevant pathways. So they could have said she does have Mental Illness &/or Anxiety but no sign or Autism.

What a minefield - no offence intended to any classifications.

@WonderBoy haha aye for now! I’m sure they’ll grab their next chance whenever they can! .

Must work on my witty comebacks before then!

upsideup is OCD a mental illness?

Perhaps my question should have been to ask 'what's a mental illness?' & see what posters added to the list.

We prefer to use Disability. WonderBoy is at the severe end of the Spectrum, and so Condition doesn't really cover it.

We say he has a double disability. One his Autism, the other the disablists/poor services/living in a society which doesn't value difference.

I like the idea of causing some disorder but I don't like the idea that he's got one or is one.

Autistic brains are wired differently that is a matter of fact. The world is geared up for neurotypical people. Many autistic people can develop mental illness, through having to cope with a world designed for other people. This would also happen to neurotypicals if they had to live in a world which works for autistic.

I have OCD and it’s classified as a mental illness.

Thank you for this thread OP and pps.

Ds was recently diagnosed with autism. His doctor, educators and support workers frequently use the phrase "social communication disability/difference", which for ds is accurately descriptive - as far as it goes - but omits his other issues and challenges.

'Disorder' may well be the accepted medical terminology, but thanks to this thread I will be much more mindful of it's connotations and possible effects.

There was a very good Four Thought episode broadcast on Radio 4 recently, it made me think about my own language and I recommend a listen: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b52cn5

my son has severe autism and learning disabilities its on his diagnosis that t
he has autistic spectrum disorder so that's what I call it I and lots of other parents I know prefer disorder for our children, i wish people would stop trying to speak for everyone on the spectrum its very large and very high functioning people cannot have any idea what its like at the other end of the spectrum.

I have an Autistic Spectrum Condition. I'm wired up differently. My thinking in most cases is actually very ordered. As so many others have said, it's other people's attitudes that is disabling.
(My degrees are arts degrees, just so that people don't get too bogged down in science/maths/computers). Lots of creative folk on the spectrum too.

@x2boys fair enough I’ll take that on board. Equally, I’m fairly fed up of NTs defining me, and my children.

And you don’t know how I or my children function, just for clarity. Being able to write on the internet is no indication of how people cope in RL. So be careful of labelling people very high functioning based on a snapshot.

Functioning labels are not helpful.