"But the autism umbrella has since widened to include milder forms, says Dr. Marshalyn Yeargin-Allsopp, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC. For example, it now includes Asperger syndrome, where the sufferer is socially impaired, but experiences typical language development.
Another difference between past and present autism diagnosis involves the presence of intellectual disabilities, adds Yeargin-Allsopp. During the 1960s and 1970s, the vast majority of those diagnosed with autism had an intellectual disability but today, only about 40% have one."
CDC Autism Expert Dr. Marshalyn Yeargin-Allsopp
In the above noted quote the CDC's autism expert Dr. Yeargin-Allsopp did not try to get too precise with the numbers of persons on the "autism spectrum of disorders" who also have an intellectual disability. Two recent CDC surveys estimated that 44% and 41% of persons with ASD have an intellectual disability not 40% but it is difficult to be precise, even for the CDC autism expert, with large survey figures. The results of such surveys are expressed with terms like "about" or "approximately" so there is nothing added to our understanding of autism by KWibbling over whether the correct figure is 41% of 44%. Nor is there any reason based on the CDC approximate figures to KWibble over the Canadian Psychological Association's 2006 estimate that 80% of those with autism, distinguished from Aspergers, also have an intellectual disability. The CPA figure is accepted as consistent, by this humble Dad, until the CPA, or an equally credible, authoritative source says otherwise.
What we need to do is understand, as revealed in the quote above from Dr. Yeargin-Allsopp, that the clear association between autism and intellectual disability was downplayed by the American Psychiatric Association in the DSM-IV revisions. We should understand the harm these revisions have caused to public understanding of the realities of autism disorders and the further harm that will be done when the "autism spectrum" is again expanded and watered down. We should understand now and begin to explore the connections between Intellectual Disability and "classic" autism, currently called Autistic Disorder, before the APA plunges ahead with its New Autism Spectrum Disorder in the DSM-V, which it will do notwithstanding any public commentary or criticism.
This humble father of a 14 year old son with Autistic Disorder and Intellectual Disability is not going to KWibble over the CPA's math unless a credible authoritative source takes issue with the CPA figures and demonstrates that they are wrong. I am not ashamed of my son's Intellectual Disability and I do not subscribe to the romanticization of autism and other serious neurological disorders under the offensive Neurodiversity ideology which describes these disorders variously as cultures, natural differences or preferences. Nor am I a "professor of psychology" at a community college or university with the qualifications to take issue with a national professional governing body like the Canadian Psychological Association.
Dr. Yeargin-Allsopp's comments are those of a CDC autism expert telling us in plain language that prior to the DSM-IV revisions which grouped autistic disorder with Aspergers and PDD-NOS the Vast Majority, not a 50% plus 1 majority, but the Vast Majority of those with autism also had an intellectual disability. That strong and compelling piece of information about the reality of autism as a neurological disorder was obscured by simple definition changes in the DSM-IV.
There are some "autism experts" who publish several articles a year, and conduct studies of "autism" involving only high functioning autistic subjects and persons with Aspergers. They do not make the effort to study the most seriously disabled of all persons with "autism spectrum" disorders ... Autistic Disorder's Vast Majority... those with Intellectual Disabilities. They routinely publish studies involving HFA and Aspergers studies which invariably get reported in the mainstream media as demonstrating that persons with autism have hidden, perhaps even superior, intelligence. That type of feel good reporting obscures our understanding of the realities faced by those who are members of Autistic Disorder's Vast Majority ... those with an Intellectual Disability, With the further merger of the PDD's into one New Autisim Spectrum Disorder in the DSM-5, and the further watering down of what constitutes autism, the figure of 40% cited by the CDC's autism expert will, once again, be magically reduced and obscured ... hidden from public consciousness.
Does everyone really think it is just a coincidence that 80% of those with Autistic Disorder, or not to KWibble .... the Vast Majority, are intellectually disabled? Unfortunately the American Psychiatric Association is about to get the DSM-V, and the New Autism Spectrum Disorder, in place to further obscure and further reduce the impetus to research, explore and understand autism as an intellectual disability. The vast majority of those with classic autism who are intellectually disabled will not be helped by the DSM-V changes. Their reality will be further obscured and hidden behind an increasingly glossy portrayal of autism in our public discussions.
Time to order a new set, a DSM-5 version, of rose colored glasses with which to look at the New Autism Spectrum Disorder.
1 comment:
"KWibbling" - when I read that word this morning, I almost covered my computer screen in coffee. That was funny.
I think your point about ID being common in people with autism is a good one and is too often neglected in the media and by certain other groups. Too often the stories are about the "special" abilities supposedly granted by autism while complelely ignoring the majority of not-so special problems that autism gives.
I don't know how much you looked at the recent study in Nature about rare copy number variations, but what the researchers seem to be saying is that many of the rare CNVs that are thought to be assocated with autism are also associated with ID -
"[ASD individuals] were found to carry a higher global burden of rare, genic copy number variants (CNVs) (1.19 fold, P50.012), especially so for loci previously implicated in either ASDand/or intellectual disability"
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