Social security defines disability as the inability to perform substantial gainful activity (SGA), and that is $1040 a month last time I checked. I use this definition as well. A person who has Asperger's should be able to perform SGA, but may not be able to. The difficulty increases when a person has a co-morbid disorder. In my instance, I am disabled. I have complex-ptsd and Asperger's, both were diagnosed well into adulthood. Having had well over two dozen different jobs, and losing them all, I had to face the reality that I am disabled. Referring to someone as disabled because of a diagnostic label given by a soft science is not reasonable in my opinion. Disability is more a measure of how well a person can function in society without supports. The guy, with downs syndrome, who pushes carts 30 hours a week at your grocery store is likely disabled. He would not be able to do that job without a person to get him ready for work, get him to work, and the supports the employer provides. The danger here is that maybe 15% of people with Asperger's work full time jobs as an adult. That is not a statistic I made up, it comes from somewhere, but I'm not sure where. Clearly, that 15% is not disabled.
Michelle McCoy - 10 years ago
I find this to be a touchy subject but in order to get services for my son (who is 4 non verbal) he had to be considered disabled. I do not like the term but could he (when older) really live successfully on his own? If I had to guess right now I would say no...and if he needs any type of assistance whether it be a lot or a little that is considered disabled. So no matter how much I cringe when I have to say he is disabled... the truth is that he is. He has to have a one on one aid in school and I am a stay at home mom because he wouldn't function properly in a regular day care setting.
Roger Kulp - 10 years ago
This is a very controversial subject.The neurodiversity movement,and those who are at the milder end of the spectrum,will say no.Those who argue it is,always have other more serious problems going on.There are a lot of grey areas Some have profound intellectual disability,some have very severe medical problems,or psychiatric disorders.Researchers talk about subtypes of autism,they do not say a coexisting diagnosis cancels out autism.I have a moderate to severe autism diagnosis.I have had many,many,regressions.I was born blind in my left eye.I had profound developmental delays as a child in many areas.I have seizures,a severe polyneuropathy,multiple GI problems,chronic heart failure,a lack of muscle developmnt,megaloblastic anemia,a secondary immune deficiency,and all kinds of other unexplained sicknesses I now know are metabolic.Two years ago,I was found to have Cerebral Folate Deficiency Syndrome.More recently,a very new type of mitochondrial disease that has only been found with autism.Cerebral Folate Deficiency is very interesting.It is a type of autism,that can be treated with medication,and a milk free diet,depending on if there are folate receptor autoantibodies or not.The autism can completely go away,but the medical issues do not.Go off your meds,or start eating dairy,and the autism comes right back.Even with all this other stuff going on,doctors still don't discount the autism.They talk about mitochondrial autism,or they talk about ASD with Cerebral Folate Deficiency.They no longer talk about "features of autism",but autism subtypes,with these as some of the subtypes.
Vicki Robertson - 10 years ago
My 10 year old son River is on the spectrum. He has Aspergers and I do not think he is disabled. He does have some problems learning but only certain things. He is taught a different way in school so its not as difficult. He is very intelligent and has a very high IQ so I try to teach him to embrace his autism and control his behaviors. He is doing wonderful. He says he just wants to be like everyone else so he works really hard at learning calming techniques and social skills so I think it depends on where someone is on the spectrum whether you could call them disabled or not. My son is very capable of learning the life skills he needs in order to be very successful in life. I think if a child is diagnosed early and gets the right kind of therapy any child who has Aspergers can and will be successful. Even his doctor tells me do not ever tell him he is disabled because he is not.
As an autistic adult I do consider myself disabled, and in fact in many cases autism is disabling, the issue is people assume disabled means less and that's not true! Being disabled doesn't make us any less as people! We are different not less and part of that difference is having a disability, that doesn't take Way our value as people and it shouldn't take away our rights either.
I think saying autism isn't a disability is dangerous because it insulates we don't need top he help and services but we do need them. What needs to change is the stigma of disability. Disability needs to stop being viewed as a mark of shame but rather just. Part of the person yes they have challanges, may need supports and services and need to do things diffrently bit that person still matters, the are still important and they still have value
Social security defines disability as the inability to perform substantial gainful activity (SGA), and that is $1040 a month last time I checked. I use this definition as well. A person who has Asperger's should be able to perform SGA, but may not be able to. The difficulty increases when a person has a co-morbid disorder. In my instance, I am disabled. I have complex-ptsd and Asperger's, both were diagnosed well into adulthood. Having had well over two dozen different jobs, and losing them all, I had to face the reality that I am disabled. Referring to someone as disabled because of a diagnostic label given by a soft science is not reasonable in my opinion. Disability is more a measure of how well a person can function in society without supports. The guy, with downs syndrome, who pushes carts 30 hours a week at your grocery store is likely disabled. He would not be able to do that job without a person to get him ready for work, get him to work, and the supports the employer provides. The danger here is that maybe 15% of people with Asperger's work full time jobs as an adult. That is not a statistic I made up, it comes from somewhere, but I'm not sure where. Clearly, that 15% is not disabled.
I find this to be a touchy subject but in order to get services for my son (who is 4 non verbal) he had to be considered disabled. I do not like the term but could he (when older) really live successfully on his own? If I had to guess right now I would say no...and if he needs any type of assistance whether it be a lot or a little that is considered disabled. So no matter how much I cringe when I have to say he is disabled... the truth is that he is. He has to have a one on one aid in school and I am a stay at home mom because he wouldn't function properly in a regular day care setting.
This is a very controversial subject.The neurodiversity movement,and those who are at the milder end of the spectrum,will say no.Those who argue it is,always have other more serious problems going on.There are a lot of grey areas Some have profound intellectual disability,some have very severe medical problems,or psychiatric disorders.Researchers talk about subtypes of autism,they do not say a coexisting diagnosis cancels out autism.I have a moderate to severe autism diagnosis.I have had many,many,regressions.I was born blind in my left eye.I had profound developmental delays as a child in many areas.I have seizures,a severe polyneuropathy,multiple GI problems,chronic heart failure,a lack of muscle developmnt,megaloblastic anemia,a secondary immune deficiency,and all kinds of other unexplained sicknesses I now know are metabolic.Two years ago,I was found to have Cerebral Folate Deficiency Syndrome.More recently,a very new type of mitochondrial disease that has only been found with autism.Cerebral Folate Deficiency is very interesting.It is a type of autism,that can be treated with medication,and a milk free diet,depending on if there are folate receptor autoantibodies or not.The autism can completely go away,but the medical issues do not.Go off your meds,or start eating dairy,and the autism comes right back.Even with all this other stuff going on,doctors still don't discount the autism.They talk about mitochondrial autism,or they talk about ASD with Cerebral Folate Deficiency.They no longer talk about "features of autism",but autism subtypes,with these as some of the subtypes.
My 10 year old son River is on the spectrum. He has Aspergers and I do not think he is disabled. He does have some problems learning but only certain things. He is taught a different way in school so its not as difficult. He is very intelligent and has a very high IQ so I try to teach him to embrace his autism and control his behaviors. He is doing wonderful. He says he just wants to be like everyone else so he works really hard at learning calming techniques and social skills so I think it depends on where someone is on the spectrum whether you could call them disabled or not. My son is very capable of learning the life skills he needs in order to be very successful in life. I think if a child is diagnosed early and gets the right kind of therapy any child who has Aspergers can and will be successful. Even his doctor tells me do not ever tell him he is disabled because he is not.
As an autistic adult I do consider myself disabled, and in fact in many cases autism is disabling, the issue is people assume disabled means less and that's not true! Being disabled doesn't make us any less as people! We are different not less and part of that difference is having a disability, that doesn't take Way our value as people and it shouldn't take away our rights either.
I think saying autism isn't a disability is dangerous because it insulates we don't need top he help and services but we do need them. What needs to change is the stigma of disability. Disability needs to stop being viewed as a mark of shame but rather just. Part of the person yes they have challanges, may need supports and services and need to do things diffrently bit that person still matters, the are still important and they still have value