In the late 1990’s a student of anthropology and sociology in Australia named Judy Singer, who possessing many of those traits herself, gave that idea a name: neurodiversity (p.450). an idea as old as Asperger’s notion that people with the traits of his syndrome have always been part of the human community, standing apart, quietly making the world that mocks and shuns them a better place. In Neurotribes, Silberman describes the emergence of the term neurodiversity : This represents a new and fundamentally different way of looking at conditions which were traditionally pathologized” (Robinson, 2013). Neurodiversity: “is the idea that neurological differences like autism and ADHD are the result of normal, natural variations in the human genome. Clinicians readily adopted the phrase, because it helped explain what they’d been seeing in the real world for decades (p. She liked the sound of it, which evoked pleasing images of rainbows and other phenomena that attest to the infinitely various creativity of nature. Ultimately, she adopted the term autism spectrum. (“All the features that characterize Asperger’s syndrome,” she observed, “can be found in varying degrees in the normal population.”). One of the most subversive aspects of Lorna’s concept was her suggestion that the continuum shades imperceptibly into garden-variety eccentricity. While was trying to think of a better term, she heard a phrase of Winston Churchill’s echo in her mind: “Nature never draws a line without smudging it.” This seems particularly true of autism. In Steve Silberman's sweeping history of autism, Neurotribes, he describes the significance of the now familiar term, spectrum : A less pathologizing term is ' Autism Spectrum Difference'. Both AS and autism involve neuro-biological differences in how information is processed and integrated. Because Asperger Syndrome shares some of the core traits of autism (although they may be expressed to different extents), and because the two diagnoses often occur within the same families (suggesting a genetic link), Asperger Syndrome is generally considered to lie on the “Autism Spectrum.” It has yet to be determined whether High Functioning Autism (HFA) differs from AS and, if so, how. Asperger Syndrome and other forms of autism have been combined under the umbrella of this broad diagnosis. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): A new diagnosis included in the DSM-5. It is generally used in a favorable spirit of affirmation. Because of their atypical combination of significant strengths and challenges, people with an Asperger profile are often misunderstood, and their challenges either go unrecognized, or they are misdiagnosed.Īspie: An affectionate term often used to describe a person with an Asperger diagnosis or profile. As an Asperger profile can profoundly impact people throughout their lives, many still can benefit from a variety of Asperger supports. Many people with an Asperger profile can leverage their cognitive abilities and other talents to compensate for the challenges that they face. AANE has chosen the term Asperger profile to identify the challenges and recognize the gifts of those who previously could have fallen under the AS label.
#Define pervasive developmental disorder manual#
AS no longer exists as a formal diagnosis defined by the medical and psychiatric community, which subsumed the diagnosis under the larger “Autism Spectrum Disorder” umbrella in the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5). Asperger Profile: A name that AANE is choosing to use to describe the constellation of characteristics that was formerly known as Asperger Syndrome (AS).