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Originally Posted by Wondergirl

And I have never met a person with Asperger's who was upset by his diagnosis.

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Let me try again. It's hard to believe you're missing my point.

Those who are MIS-DIAGNOSED. Not those who are correctly diagnosed.

If you Google "mis-diagnosis - Asperger's", you will find info re the topic. I only gave one link in a previous post - there are many more.

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Originally Posted by Athos

Those who are MIS-DIAGNOSED. Not those who are correctly diagnosed.

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And I had asked WHO. If anything, there are thousands, yea, millions of people walking around in the world who have Asperger's. I'm betting it's much more common than we can ever imagine. That's one of the reasons it's being separated out from autism. It has some of the characteristics of autism, but is unique in and of itself.

Why would the diagnosis be devastating?

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Originally Posted by Wondergirl

And I had asked WHO. If anything, there are thousands, yea, millions of people walking around in the world who have Asperger's. I'm betting it's much more common than we can ever imagine. That's one of the reasons it's being separated out from autism. It has some of the characteristics of autism, but is unique in and of itself.

Why would the diagnosis be devastating?

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The MIS-diagnosis is devastating because those so diagnosed are put into a category that they don't belong in.

As to WHO - please check out the googling I advised.

And, by the way, Dan Akroyd and Darryl Hannah were not DIAGNOSED as having Asperberger's. They, rather off-handedly in an interview, brought it up as a possibility, probably because of its present prominence. Being shy (Hannah) is hardly a reason for the syndrome.

Your "betting" it's so common ("millions") is not evidence. That kind of unsupported statement really doesn't do much good.

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Originally Posted by Athos

The MIS-diagnosis is devastating because those so diagnosed are put into a category that they don't belong in.

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Misdiagnosis of Asperger's is very rare. The syndrome is unique. Of autism, not so much, since the spectrum is so huge. If there's misdiagnosis of either, it's easy enough to prove the diagnostician wrong.

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Originally Posted by Wondergirl

Misdiagnosis of Asperger's is very rare.

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Not so rare, if we are to believe the original link from Psychology Today.

As previously noted, the articles note that "shyness" and "social clumsiness" are often diagnosed as Asperger's - possibly because public money is available for treatment.

My only point is that spreading the diagnosis way beyond the reality only hurts those who truly have the syndrome by diluting the possible help available.

Romney is the way he is because he has mega bucks, and he makes sure he has them in a safe place. He grew up that way. Not a knock, just an observation.

That's closer to the truth than trying to attach an undiagnosed handicap on him and then saying it disqualifies him.

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Originally Posted by Athos

As previously noted, the articles note that "shyness" and "social clumsiness" are often diagnosed as Asperger's - possibly because public money is available for treatment.

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That is so wrong on so many levels. The doctors doing that are unethical. Asperger's is a syndrome, a collection of characteristics, not just shyness or social clumsiness. I know lots of people who are shy or socially clumsy, But they don't have Asperger's.

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Originally Posted by Athos

My only point is that spreading the diagnosis way beyond the reality only hurts those who truly have the syndrome by diluting the possible help available.

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Actually, those with Asperger's need or want very little help. They tend to function in and on the edge of society quite well, for the most part. In fact, like the deaf and somewhat like gays, they have become a unique community, supporting each other and agreeing that they are content to be who they are.