Do you think of aspergers as an intellectual disability?

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Just watching Jessica Jane Appelby win an amazing Gold in the pool - her paralympic classification is 'intellectual disability.' I've never thought of ds' aspergers as an intellectual disability, if anything he is more intellectually able than his peers. If anything I would describe it as a social/emotional disability. Wondered what you guys thought?

I wouldn't call it an intellectual disability either although I suppose ds' emotional intelligence is impaired. And his functional intelligence does not match his academic.

Been following this on Facebook, Anna Kennedy, Autism campaigner has been trying to find out if any of the Paralympions have autism as a main disability, all bit confusing as to participate in the intellectual disability category then you must have an IQ under 75.

As you say many people with aspergers have higher IQ's than this.

Found this on the bbc sport page:

Intellectual disability
A person with an intellectual disability must have substantial limitation in present functioning characterised by intellectual functioning (the American Association of Mental Retardation defines this as an IQ of 70 or below), limitations in two or more of the following adaptive skill areas: communication, self-care, home living, social skills, community use, self-direction, health and safety, functional academics, leisure and work and have acquired their condition before age 18.

If the IQ of 70 or less is necessary ( by this I'm reading yes) as well as another 2 'limitations' then no my aspergers boy would not fit into the catagory. He easily meets the required limitations in the list of adaptive skills areas though.

Found this on the bbc sport page:

Intellectual disability
A person with an intellectual disability must have substantial limitation in present functioning characterised by intellectual functioning (the American Association of Mental Retardation defines this as an IQ of 70 or below), limitations in two or more of the following adaptive skill areas: communication, self-care, home living, social skills, community use, self-direction, health and safety, functional academics, leisure and work and have acquired their condition before age 18.

If the IQ of 70 or less is necessary ( by this I'm reading yes) as well as another 2 'limitations' then no my aspergers boy would not fit into the catagory. He easily meets the required limitations in the list of adaptive skills areas though.

My ds has Aspergers,his I.Q is 126. He's 7 but socially & emotionally about 4...

Perhaps she's like my boy-Aspergers and bottom of the academic heap too. I get tired of the assumption that my ds is a 'little professor' type when he's 10 yrs old and can't add 2+3.

But surely iit can be a barrier to learning so even if the person has high academic ability in some areas, without additional support is this really going to translate to results.
So a person can be academically very able in some areas but score very low on an IQ test purely by the way the test is administered.

Either way, great swim & a very emotional gold medal winner.

On the TV, they were talking about difficulties with organising training routines and planning races, I would say that Dd3 would fit into that criteria. Despite being very academic she has poor life skills and is emotionally very imature.

Sorry meant to say that i dont consider Dd3 to have an intellectual disability, i think she has a developmental disability.

Yes, the 'aspergers = little professor" thing is very irritating.

I loved the interview

'how does that medal feel around your neck?

A bit heavy.

" a bit heavy"

this is also interesting . The part about proving the intellectual disability affects the sport and the part about pacing.
Seems very muddy waters to me

Yeah I loved her interview troutpout -How does it feel (re winning a gold medal) answer heavy - What are you going to do when you get home ie celebrate ect answer Lock it away safe!!

trout, that link is very interesting, but I agree that it must be very tricky to be certain that the "testing" is accurate.

Also love the "a bit heavy"

Well I know DS wouldn't qualify on the intellectual bit. But has and will have limitations in all the functional living skills.
I find it useful for me to think of him as being disabled in this area.
It helps me deals with my frustration is I remember that he simply cannot get it. Not a failure on his part or mine.....just the way he was made.

Plenty of people with Asperger's have PhDs, so I can't see how it can be an intellectual disability. Most definitions of AS mention average or above average intelligence.

My understanding is the assessment for classification is fairly rigorous. Ds does have intellectual impairment (and autism) and currantly runs with his local (NT)athletics club (training with younger children) but we have been looking at classification to join the specialsports team (or join in local meets as a disabled competator) so that he can compete. Ds IQ is well below the cut off point so I cannot remember exactly what it is!

It's going to vary from person to person with the diagnosis, surely?

It depends really whether you consider intellectual ability to just cover the sort of things covered in an IQ test.

If you're talking about generally rather than to meet a specific criteria for the games then it's not really that different from dyslexia or dyscalcula...there are specific areas that cause difficulty and problems learning it. It's not in the area that's regarded as intelligence by most people, but that's kind of an arbitrary thing.

Must admit I was very surprised to hear of a Paralympian who qualifies for the games because of Aspergers.

It doesn't add up to me.

I just don't see to what extent having Aspergers prevents you from competing in the Olympics rather than the Paralympics.

Asperegrs is not an intellectual defict. Social, emotional defecits obviously but not intellectual.

If it's comorbid conditions such as anxiety, OCD etc that qualify the person for the Para's then that's what should be reported as the Aspergers dx is then a red herring.

And I spotted quite a few Aspies during the Olympics.