6 ms·

Autism is not a mental illness. Please do not spread misinformation.

by kosma 8y ago

fruiet 8y ago
I don't know why this post has been voted down. Autism most definitely is not a mental illness. It's a disability.
- xapata 8y ago
  What's the difference? Would you prefer "condition"?
  - iand 8y ago
    The difference is that autism cannot be eliminated via psychiatric methods. It's a neurological condition.
    - jnwatson 8y ago
      Nor can schizophrenia be eliminated via psychiatric methods.
    - xapata 8y ago
      I think many aspects of a mind cannot be eliminated by psychiatric methods, yet most we would simply call personality.
  - loceng 8y ago
    Developmental disorder is more widely used, and more correct.
ythn 8y ago
Its a general term people use to mean "not normal". What else should we call it? Everyone loves to play semantics and politics when it comes to categorising mental abnormalities. No one wants their affliction to be considered an "illness"
- colomon 8y ago
  Basically you're unleashing a horde of loaded words in an effort to explain why the first loaded word choice was appropriate. For a significant portion of those with autism, the way their brain works is different than the median human but they are still basically fully functional human beings. My handy dictionary defines abnormal as "deviating from what is normal or usual, typically in a way that is undesirable or worrying." They match the first part of the definition, but the second part is very much open to question. Being different is not necessarily undesirable, nor worrying, nor an affliction, nor an illness.
  - mannykannot 8y ago
    This response, describing autism as being merely different, is exactly why the single diagnostic label was a mistake, and should be immediately reversed. I know an autistic person whose ability to use language is so impaired that only his parents and siblings can communicate in any meaningful way with him. Effective use of language is a signature feature of being human, and to dismiss an inability to do so as being merely 'different' is a cruel dismissal of some very serious problems that have come to define the life of this family - most of all, of course, for the victim himself (and yes, he is a victim of circumstance.)
  - jklinger410 8y ago
    People like you are one of the biggest reasons autism is too broad of a term. Maybe these words seem loaded to self-diagnosed, asperger glorifying, "neurodivergent," ever-woke social justice armchair linguists like yourself. I'd love for all of you to be squarely outside of the same diagnosis my little brother has. I can't stress how much your "fully functioning" "open to question" "non-illness difference" version of autism deeply offends those who have been touched by real autism. Not, got me a job at Google savante autism. Not, I'm a nerd who remembers every episode of Naruto and no one likes me because I never shower so my excuse is my neurodivergence autism. I long for the day when my brother's socially crippling mood swings and severe learning disability is no longer trapped under the same umbrella as a group of people who want to remove disability, retardation, or illness from a definition that has literally destroyed the lives of many individuals and families across the world. I am disgusted by this optimistic view on autism. Championed by the most privileged of those with the disorder. You all fight a "stigma" for a mental disorder that you find has some "perks" as if the child thrashing his head against a wall and screaming at the top of his lungs because his brain registers every other sensation as pain and pain as pleasure doesn't even exist. I have no sympathy for your entire assessment yet we agree on one thing, me maybe more so than you. The sooner we redefine autism into a multitude of different mental disorders, the better.
scardine 8y ago
I can understand why high-functional individuals or even the parents dealing with moderate cases are afraid of the stigma but the whole "it is not a desease" is very harmful for families dealing with more severe cases: it is always taxing for the family and often very debilitating for the individual. My 5 yers old son wouldn't be able to attend a regular school without 3 years of expensive therapy and a dedicated tutor in class so the last thing I want is an excuse for my health insurance to deny assistance. The safety network a lot worse than what is available for dawn's without this PC BS.
- astura 8y ago
  The person you are replying to didn't say autism isn't a disease; they said it's not a mental illness. As far as I know autism is classified as a developmental disorder.
  - CydeWeys 8y ago
    There's not much of a useful distinction between these categories and words, though. "Disease" is a very general category that, depending on who you ask, contains all disorders. Many psychiatric developmental disorders do have clear established physical causes, so in that sense they're not much different than being born with a malformed heart, other than that the defect is in a different location. The only real consensus is that "disease" does not describe traumatic injuries, e.g. if you break your ankle in a bike accident that isn't a disease. Note that many people conflate "disease" with "infectious disease", but the actual general category "disease" is quite broad and encompasses much more. Anyway, it's arguing over semantics, like the perennial argument over whether Java parameters are passed by reference, or if their references are passed by value, or if they're passed by value, etc. See here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16896150 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16896150
dang 8y ago
Please don't post shallow dismissals. A good critical comment teaches us something. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Autism is not a mental illness. Please do not spread misinformation.

by kosma 8y ago

Autism is not a mental illness. Please do not spread misinformation.

fruiet 8y ago

I don't know why this post has been voted down. Autism most definitely is not a mental illness. It's a disability.

xapata 8y ago
What's the difference? Would you prefer "condition"?
- iand 8y ago
  The difference is that autism cannot be eliminated via psychiatric methods. It's a neurological condition.
  - jnwatson 8y ago
    Nor can schizophrenia be eliminated via psychiatric methods.
  - xapata 8y ago
    I think many aspects of a mind cannot be eliminated by psychiatric methods, yet most we would simply call personality.
- loceng 8y ago
  Developmental disorder is more widely used, and more correct.

ythn 8y ago

Its a general term people use to mean "not normal". What else should we call it? Everyone loves to play semantics and politics when it comes to categorising mental abnormalities. No one wants their affliction to be considered an "illness"

colomon 8y ago
Basically you're unleashing a horde of loaded words in an effort to explain why the first loaded word choice was appropriate. For a significant portion of those with autism, the way their brain works is different than the median human but they are still basically fully functional human beings. My handy dictionary defines abnormal as "deviating from what is normal or usual, typically in a way that is undesirable or worrying." They match the first part of the definition, but the second part is very much open to question. Being different is not necessarily undesirable, nor worrying, nor an affliction, nor an illness.
- mannykannot 8y ago
  This response, describing autism as being merely different, is exactly why the single diagnostic label was a mistake, and should be immediately reversed. I know an autistic person whose ability to use language is so impaired that only his parents and siblings can communicate in any meaningful way with him. Effective use of language is a signature feature of being human, and to dismiss an inability to do so as being merely 'different' is a cruel dismissal of some very serious problems that have come to define the life of this family - most of all, of course, for the victim himself (and yes, he is a victim of circumstance.)
- jklinger410 8y ago
  People like you are one of the biggest reasons autism is too broad of a term. Maybe these words seem loaded to self-diagnosed, asperger glorifying, "neurodivergent," ever-woke social justice armchair linguists like yourself. I'd love for all of you to be squarely outside of the same diagnosis my little brother has. I can't stress how much your "fully functioning" "open to question" "non-illness difference" version of autism deeply offends those who have been touched by real autism. Not, got me a job at Google savante autism. Not, I'm a nerd who remembers every episode of Naruto and no one likes me because I never shower so my excuse is my neurodivergence autism. I long for the day when my brother's socially crippling mood swings and severe learning disability is no longer trapped under the same umbrella as a group of people who want to remove disability, retardation, or illness from a definition that has literally destroyed the lives of many individuals and families across the world. I am disgusted by this optimistic view on autism. Championed by the most privileged of those with the disorder. You all fight a "stigma" for a mental disorder that you find has some "perks" as if the child thrashing his head against a wall and screaming at the top of his lungs because his brain registers every other sensation as pain and pain as pleasure doesn't even exist. I have no sympathy for your entire assessment yet we agree on one thing, me maybe more so than you. The sooner we redefine autism into a multitude of different mental disorders, the better.

scardine 8y ago

I can understand why high-functional individuals or even the parents dealing with moderate cases are afraid of the stigma but the whole "it is not a desease" is very harmful for families dealing with more severe cases: it is always taxing for the family and often very debilitating for the individual. My 5 yers old son wouldn't be able to attend a regular school without 3 years of expensive therapy and a dedicated tutor in class so the last thing I want is an excuse for my health insurance to deny assistance. The safety network a lot worse than what is available for dawn's without this PC BS.

astura 8y ago
The person you are replying to didn't say autism isn't a disease; they said it's not a mental illness. As far as I know autism is classified as a developmental disorder.
- CydeWeys 8y ago
  There's not much of a useful distinction between these categories and words, though. "Disease" is a very general category that, depending on who you ask, contains all disorders. Many psychiatric developmental disorders do have clear established physical causes, so in that sense they're not much different than being born with a malformed heart, other than that the defect is in a different location. The only real consensus is that "disease" does not describe traumatic injuries, e.g. if you break your ankle in a bike accident that isn't a disease. Note that many people conflate "disease" with "infectious disease", but the actual general category "disease" is quite broad and encompasses much more. Anyway, it's arguing over semantics, like the perennial argument over whether Java parameters are passed by reference, or if their references are passed by value, or if they're passed by value, etc. See here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16896150 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16896150

dang 8y ago

Please don't post shallow dismissals. A good critical comment teaches us something. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html