Asperger's and the new DSM-5

Hello,

I am currently looking into the implications of Asperger's being eliminated from the DSM-5 and folded into the category 'Autism Spectrum Disorder'. Currently this is only in the USA but I wondered how this may affect individuals who currently have this label.

I would just like to hear your thoughts if possible? This is for my undergraduate dissertation and just wanted to hear how individuals feel father than from research articles.

Please feel free to PM or I am happy to start a discussion going? The ICD-11 comes out in 2017 which may also remove the label AS and affect individuals in the uk.

Any help would be warmly appreciated and thank you for your responses in advance

I'm currently living in the UK where they are trying to lose the label "Aspergers" and just call it "High Functioning Autism" instead. I personally don't really know what to think of it, because unfortunately a lot of people hear "Autism" and think "idiot" but if you say "Aspergers Syndrome" you often have to explain what it is and then they think "idiot". Medical wise I prefer saying Autism Spectrum Disorder to Aspergers Syndrome because whilst Aspergers falls under Autism some medical professionals are a bit stuck in the past and refuse to acknowledge Aspergers as being real anyway. I guess my point of all that, if there was one, is that I personally don't mind the changes because (and some of my friends with AS agree) I find that saying I have an "Autism Spectrum Disorder" actually causes less problems.