Autism has become popular of late. The rate of diagnosed autism rises fast. If this is due to a better awareness or an actual increase is impossible to determine due to a lack of a baseline. It's unknown what autism rate was so one can't say if it increases in reality, the awareness causes more diagnosed cases or both.

Wholly based on my own speculation i go for the latter but that's immaterial.

What is important is that the description of Autism in the DSM, including DSM V, is incomplete. What it does is describing the symptoms of Autism not the whole thing.

As an High Functioning Autist(Aspergers) myself i can with certainty say that based on my own experiences and those of my peers that Autism is a different state of consciousness which presents the world some symptoms making communication difficult.

This different state of consciousness is obviously hard to describe to someone who doesn't have it. One can just make an effort similar like explaining a color to a born blind person.

It is a world where thought patterns are more linear, more straightforward. Events have no emotional compound obfuscating, complicating the interpretation.

An event gets analyzed on its face value, without interference. Whereas non Autists see the world through the limbic systems filter, coloring the event, Autists in general don't.

This frustrates the limbic system to no end. It wants to be heard. I know it’s there, screaming at me, but its in a soundproof room. Since this system still has functional control over your hormones it can make life pretty nasty for you. Anxiety/fear is one of the predominant expressions of this frustrated entity. This can in serious cases present itself as tantrums, rage. And thats what the world at large sees, an anxious person with no or hardly any emotional interaction.

To me my HFA/AS is a good thing. I see it works for me by freeing me from the shackles of the limbic system.

The medical profession however sees this different, not fully comprehending it, and offers ‘treatments’ designed to make you behave as if you are controlled by the limbic system. More like them.

But i don't want to be like them. I want to be me, i don't have a ‘disorder’. I am different. Not better, not worse. Different.

HOw refreshing to see this!! A close friend was diagnosed with the same thing and she does not understand all of the therapies suggsted to her. She sees this "disorder" as a distinct advantage to her and her daily life. It's nice to see that there are others who do not accept "traditional medical therapies" and see themselves as being quite normal! Thank you for sharing!!

You explain it in such an easy way to understand. Thank you.

It is a frustrating thing that the DSM focuses only on the negative aspects of AS. But i suppose this happens because for the purposes of diagnosing those that might need help, only the negative aspects count.
The problem with this is that random people read it to find out what Aspergers/Autism is and think this is all there is to it. It makes it seem like a form of retardation, and generates ignorant attitudes :/

DSM stinks. It's a collection of observed behavioral patterns replete with personal bias, ethnocentricity and plain incompetence.

It should be scrapped and be rewritten from ground up under supervision of neuroscientists. Psychiatry by now is totally circular in confirming DSM. They were educated by it so logically they'll find it is correct. DSM is a confirmation bias generator.

I tend to agree that the increased rate of autism is increased awareness. My Dad has had Asperger's all his life but people weren't so obsessed with disorders back then. There was no such thing as ADHD etc. or parents weren't about to take their kids to a shrink because they misbehaved in school. They just got a good whoopin.

The same goes with some types of cancer, heart disease etc. People are living long so they are going to wind up with cancer or heart disease eventually. That is my opinion anyway. Childhood cancer rates being higher are probably a different story. Increased radiation, toxins in the environment, flouride in our water (we should not be drinking that stuff it is poison).