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Can Asperger syndrome be cured?

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Original post by jneill
So nobody had Aspergers before 1994 or 1995? You sure about that...?


I don't know about true exact time they take came up with diagnosis for autism or aspergers but I do know it was only within the last 100 years or so.

It's not that no one had the condition before then autism has been around throughout probably all of human history but people were not aware of it in ge past and either diagnosed it as something else or put it down to a curse etc. Autism rates have been going up in recent years though and I think that is more to do with our society then it is genetics.
Reply 41
Original post by Luke7456
I don't know about true exact time they take came up with diagnosis for autism or aspergers but I do know it was only within the last 100 years or so.

It's not that no one had the condition before then autism has been around throughout probably all of human history but people were not aware of it in ge past and either diagnosed it as something else or put it down to a curse etc. Autism rates have been going up in recent years though and I think that is more to do with our society then it is genetics.


Diagnosis =/= instance

http://www.nature.com/news/2011/111102/full/479022a.html
Original post by Tiger Rag
No it's not cureable. If you've "cured" yourself of it, you didn't have it in the first place. You do learn coping strategies.


Tiger Rag is completely correct. There's no blood test for aspergers so it's possible some people were misdiagnosed. The more likely scenario is that people learn how to manage the condition and cope in social situations/manage their anxiety.
Reply 43
Original post by jneill
So nobody had Aspergers before 1994 or 1995? You sure about that...?


I know people in their 30s and 40s with Asperger syndrome but it wasn't a known or recognised condition before 1994 or 1995. Asperger traits were generally considered to be a behavioural problem sorted out by discipline. It was not uncommon for children in the 1970s through to the early 1990s with Asperger syndrome to be misdiagnosed as having emotional and behavioural difficulties. Some ended up at EBD schools which often caused more harm than good to them and are even traumatised about their time there to today.
Reply 44
Original post by Arran90
I know people in their 30s and 40s with Asperger syndrome but it wasn't a known or recognised condition before 1994 or 1995. Asperger traits were generally considered to be a behavioural problem sorted out by discipline. It was not uncommon for children in the 1970s through to the early 1990s with Asperger syndrome to be misdiagnosed as having emotional and behavioural difficulties. Some ended up at EBD schools which often caused more harm than good to them and are even traumatised about their time there to today.


Exactly, my point is just because it wasn't diagnosed doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
Original post by doodle_333
Tiger Rag is completely correct. There's no blood test for aspergers so it's possible some people were misdiagnosed. The more likely scenario is that people learn how to manage the condition and cope in social situations/manage their anxiety.


I have a friend with the condition who said he tends to fake being (for want of a better word) normal. I tend to hide the issues I have as well, which I really need to stop doing.
Original post by Tiger Rag
I have a friend with the condition who said he tends to fake being (for want of a better word) normal. I tend to hide the issues I have as well, which I really need to stop doing.


yeah as far as I know it's very common in girls who find it easier to 'learn' social rules and obey them... doesn't stop the anxiety/stress of not having a natural understanding though even if they don't appear 'different'
Original post by Luke7456
Autism rates have been going up in recent years though and I think that is more to do with our society then it is genetics.


They haven't been going up. It's just more well known now than it was 40-50 years ago.

I have a friend who told me that he had a childhood friend (we're going back to the 1950s here) who was diagnosed with Autism. He didn't talk and he had behaviour difficulties. My friend was a 6th form teacher from the 1970s - 2000. I strongly suspect that unknown to him, he probably did end up teaching some students with Autism. But it wasn't well know back then.
(edited 7 years ago)
Reply 48
Original post by Luke7456
I don't know about true exact time they take came up with diagnosis for autism or aspergers but I do know it was only within the last 100 years or so.


I have received reliable information about this. If a 9 to 14 year old with Asperger syndrome was referred to the NAS in 1990 then the NAS would have told them that they DO NOT have autism, and are therefore no more in need of the services of the NAS than a (neurotypical) blind person is. This is because the NAS in 1990 only focused on traditional low-functioning autism.


Autism rates have been going up in recent years though and I think that is more to do with our society then it is genetics.


There's just no way that genetics have changed since the 1970s to cause a sharp rise in any medical condition.

Original post by doodle_333
Tiger Rag is completely correct. There's no blood test for aspergers so it's possible some people were misdiagnosed. The more likely scenario is that people learn how to manage the condition and cope in social situations/manage their anxiety.


Asperger syndrome is diagnosed by a psychologist using questions and answers and not by a DNA test.
Original post by Arran90

Asperger syndrome is diagnosed by a psychologist using questions and answers and not by a DNA test.


Yup, if you read what I said it was 'there's no blood test' so misdiagnoses are possible. As in, I'm very aware that Aspergers is diagnosed by a psychologist and the process of doing it (I've been involved in the process myself) but that process does leave room for errors in diagnosis UNLIKE a blood test for anemia for example.
Original post by Arran90
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Why asperger autism is considered as an illness anyway? I have rather considered this one as an enrichment of myself thanks to my savant syndrome in arts. And as an asperger I am quite good integrated in sociey. So good that people can't see that I am an "aspi".
A lot of it is basically pseudo-science, nothing more than an excuse for the state to control white families, reel them in to the system and control them. While autism as a whole has more credibility (and is indeed linked to government mass vaccination, chemtrails, water fluoridation etc) all the other piffling little syndromes and disorders are nothing more than an erosion of family, community and masculinity. They are trying turn white people in to feminised little snowflakes dependent on their social security, rather than develop tribal communities where values of masculinity, modesty and traditional gender roles are at play.
Reply 52
Original post by Kallisto
Why asperger autism is considered as an illness anyway? I have rather considered this one as an enrichment of myself thanks to my savant syndrome in arts. And as an asperger I am quite good integrated in sociey. So good that people can't see that I am an "aspi".


Some people, or their parents, want Asperger syndrome to be cured because the society they live in is unable or unwilling to accommodate them or cannot appreciate their good qualities.

In some respects having Asperger syndrome is like owning a rare car that nobody has even heard of where spare parts are very hard to find and hardly any garage knows how to service it or has the special tools and test equipment required. The owner of the car might appreciate its rareness and its aesthetics but the average man on the street doesn't care less about it. Just because a car is rare and has unusual aesthetics or features doesn't make it valuable or sought after by society.
I don't think it's possible to "cure" Asperger syndrome. To have Asperger syndrome means that you have difficulty in various forms of social interaction because it doesn't come to you naturally.

You can't "cure" the fact that you aren't naturally talented at something. All you can do is make up for the lack of natural talent by practising and actively learning it.

People who seem to be "cured" of Aspergers are just people who have learned to act as though they don't have it.
Original post by Arran90
Some people, or their parents, want Asperger syndrome to be cured because the society they live in is unable or unwilling to accommodate them or cannot appreciate their good qualities.
(...)


That is so true and sad. Have experienced that first-hand. But worse than that is the hypocrisy of these people who are the part of this society. When I have integrated myself by accepting societie's customs, these people who had problems to accept me before did that at once. Gave a **** to them, began to ignore these people and even to scorn instead. Just because I considered that as an pathetic behaviour of themselves. But have given those people a chance who don't know me as an asperger in the past.
Reply 55
Original post by DeHumanisation
A lot of it is basically pseudo-science, nothing more than an excuse for the state to control white families, reel them in to the system and control them. While autism as a whole has more credibility (and is indeed linked to government mass vaccination, chemtrails, water fluoridation etc) all the other piffling little syndromes and disorders are nothing more than an erosion of family, community and masculinity. They are trying turn white people in to feminised little snowflakes dependent on their social security, rather than develop tribal communities where values of masculinity, modesty and traditional gender roles are at play.


I definitely think Asperger syndrome is for real and distinct from traditional low-functioning autism.

The exact causes of Asperger syndrome are unknown.

There's a lot said and written about mercury in vaccines causing autism but very little in comparison about whether it could be caused by mercury leaking out of amalgam fillings in the mothers of people with autism.
Original post by DeHumanisation
A lot of it is basically pseudo-science, nothing more than an excuse for the state to control white families, reel them in to the system and control them. While autism as a whole has more credibility (and is indeed linked to government mass vaccination, chemtrails, water fluoridation etc) all the other piffling little syndromes and disorders are nothing more than an erosion of family, community and masculinity. They are trying turn white people in to feminised little snowflakes dependent on their social security, rather than develop tribal communities where values of masculinity, modesty and traditional gender roles are at play.


So how do you explain why black people have it too? I know at least one who does.

Oh and please educate on what it really is. When you have issues like not understanding simple language, can't cope with crowds, can't cope with the lack of routine, can't stand things like certain textures, etc?

Oh, and if you look at scans of our brains, they're different. How do you explain that?
Original post by DeHumanisation
Its just personality difference. Like I say these people are pretty good at lab like skills as they are so organised and systematic. They'll never work in a bar or anything like that but academia was virtually made for them. Its rarer in BME because they are tribal people and work around it without relying on the confounded nanny state unlike the legions of wet white liberals that have an encyclopaedia for every benefit going.


Having issues with understanding language, needing routine and having sensory issues isn't a personality difference.

Educate yourself. Seriously.
Original post by Tiger Rag
Having issues with understanding language, needing routine and having sensory issues isn't a personality difference.

Educate yourself. Seriously.


Nevertheless they can thrive in the right environment. No need for the DSS or any of those ***** to interfere. There are so many ridiculous syndromes and disorders floating around, it is almost as if its an industry designed to sustain the careers of the sociology grads that end up in the pile of guff that is social work.
Original post by DeHumanisation
Nevertheless they can thrive in the right environment. No need for the DSS or any of those ***** to interfere. There are so many ridiculous syndromes and disorders floating around, it is almost as if its an industry designed to sustain the careers of the sociology grads that end up in the pile of guff that is social work.


You really have no idea what you're talking about, do you? 15% of people with Autism are in employment. Employment is impossible for someone like me who can't cope with noise or large groups of people.

Oh, and it's not a "ridiculous syndrome" - how the hell do you explain most of the issues people with it have? And if it's "almost as if its an industry designed to sustain the careers of the sociology grads that end up in the pile of guff that is social work" - then how do you explain why very few have anything to do with social services? I don't and know plenty of others who don't.

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