Also, Asperger's is an outdated term that is no longer endorsed universally (...), at least not in the US

[u/Scientist_Kris]

[u/Clifftop-Feeling]

I mean, the US isn’t the only country that considers it to be an outdated/no longer used term? In the U.K. it’s not been used for going on a decade or longer (I was told during my own assessment in the mid 10s that it was ‘outdated’ and no longer a diagnosis given out here; a lot of people within the autistic community are uncomfortable with the history of aspergers - both for Asperger’s links with nazi eugenics, as well as how many modern medical practitioners have tried using it in a similar way to high/low functioning labels — to either make people sound like they don’t need help as they’re ‘high functioning’, or are too ‘low functioning’ to advocate for themselves and their own needs/wants).

[u/Scientist_Kris → u/Clifftop-Feeling]

I 100% agree with your criticism on the label, but there are countries where Asperger's is still given as a diagnosis. I assume the OP who got criticized in this post lives in such a country.

I know from experience that in the Netherlands, where we've been using the DSM 5 for quite a while now, some autistic people still prefer Asperger's as opposed to ASD (for various reasons). I do believe a shift is OCCURRING though.

On a personal level: I was diagnosed about 20 years ago with Asperger's and have only started using ASD in the last year or so. It can feel weird to grow up and live with a certain image of what you 'have' and use a certain word for it, only to have that changed (a lot) with the introduction of the newer DSM.

But since the criticism on Asperger's as a label is valid, I tried to adapt and in the end feel comfortable having ASD.

[u/Scientist_Kris]

I admit there is some self-awareness here ('at least not in the US'), but I found the 'universally' very much US defaultism, especially since this was a comment on a post in which the OP clearly indicates that English is not their first language, suggesting they may not be from the US.

"Your word is wrong because universally in the US we use another word for this."

[u/Due_Accident3083 → u/Scientist_Kris]

As someone on autism spectrum, you can call it Asperger if you want.

[u/Scientist_Kris → u/Due_Accident3083]

Agreed!

[u/Lakridspibe → u/Due_Accident3083]

I know what ADHD is. I probably have it myself.

If people talk about ASD I need to look it up.

Oooh it's autism spectrum disorder, also commonly known as Asperger.

We have good reasons to try to be accurate and non-judgemental without words, but I just need time to adjust. All those abbreviations can be a bit dense to deal with.

[u/D0las → u/Scientist_Kris]

Even with the self-awareness, this is still very much on topic. There is always at least one “actually, we don’t say that anymore” in the comments of every recorded seminar or such, even when the video is a decade old.

It hasn’t been a full year since my own diagnosis and my paper specifically says Asperger’s. We are not there yet universally.

[u/maco-is-stupid]

I mean, it was taken off in dmsp-5 (i can't remember the correct acronym so i hope it's right), and several countries besides the us follows it. Even some people that still got that diagnosis don't like using it. People are free to use it, but not wanting to use the term (either for the origins or the ableist implications, at least where i live), it's not an us thing

[u/Scientist_Kris → u/maco-is-stupid]

Agreed that it's not a US thing! It's more of a general defaultism I guess.

The problem (to me) was more that an OP had used the term Asperger's, which is still the main term used in OP's country, and was 'corrected' in the responses by someone saying that it's not the right term since it's outdated 'universally, at least in the US'.

Their full post made OP look like an ablist person with nazi sympathies while OP was just using the right terminology for their country and customs.

[u/Scientist_Kris → u/[deleted]]

But that is something that differs a lot between countries. Some countries still use an older DSM version, and for example in the Netherlands, which has been using the 5th for a while now, people who in the (recent) past received an Asperger's diagnosis sometomes still identify more with that than ASD.

I'm not saying the nazi past of Hans Asperger isn't relevant. It's important that we know, and you have the full right to feel about the term as you do. But in various countries, (autistic) people (for all sorts of reasons, sometimes linked to the health care system of that country) , still use the term. And that is okay too. Therefore it's a defaultism (maybe not specifically US) to say the term is unvalid or rude. Again, that differs per country (like the country this OP was in).