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Comment by coldtea | Hacker News Reader

The modern discussion whether it's a mental illness or not is just tiptoeing around the issue for non-medical concerns.

Mental illness doesn't mean "crazy person", there's a huge number of such cases, and half the population or more is affected by one or more (20% on any given year).

There's nothing insulting or damaging to call someone as mentally ill (except for types who think it means "crazy person" or some such).

In fact, there shouldn't be anything insulting or damaging about being bodily ill as well!

The bottom lime is that autism is associated with certain impairments that affect our mental states (on the spectrum, have a close relative with another mental illness). It's not some X-men like new state of being that people should aspire too, but it's something we should respect, try to heal if we can, and learn to live with and support.

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There is no “modern discussion” around if autism is a mental illness. It is settled scientific consensus that Autism is a cognitive disability and NOT a mental illness. This “modern discussion” you speak of consists of a single commenter on Hacker News making an unsubstantiated arm-chair assertion that Autism is a mental illness. I’m sorry to bust your bubble, but you are not important enough to overturn settled scientific understanding and consensus with a single comment on a web forum. Now, I want you to understand that no matter how you classify different disabilities and afflictions inside your mind, when you speak such mistruths you influence and affwct the world views of others. Other people are going to read or listen to your comments and they are going to begin to conflate Autism with mental illness. They are going to loop me in with folks who can be treated with medication, or with psycho therapy. They are going to wonder if I’m going to exhibit symptoms of mental illnesses since I am autistic. They are going to wonder if I am depressed, or have anger or personality issues. They are going to wonder if I am a danger to them, and in turn, that mentality is going to cause direct harm and danger to me and other people on the spectrum. It will deprive us of opportunities. It will lessen our ability to make social bonds, in which we already struggle. Your words have power, and in this case I find it disappointing that rather than use your words to benefit others you have chosen, through arrogance, to engage in half-truths and misunderstanding at the detriment of myself and others. Please, consider if it’s more important for you to put forth an opinion that is actively harmful to others, or to approach your discussions and opinions in a more empathetic way.

>There is no “modern discussion” around if autism is a mental illness. It is settled scientific consensus that Autism is a cognitive disability and NOT a mental illness.

Actually autism is officially described and classified in the DSM-5 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of _Mental Disorders_.

The rest of ad hominem, I will ignore. For one, I find the language insulting to people with mental health issues (even if one considers autistic people to not be among them), as if they're lesser people.

E.g. "They are going to wonder if I am a danger to them, and in turn, that mentality is going to cause direct harm and danger to me and other people on the spectrum." -- because people with mental illnesses are necessarily of "danger" to others?

>They are going to wonder if I’m going to exhibit symptoms of mental illnesses since I am autistic.

Well, they will be right to wonder it.

Even for the mental illness issues that you would agree to qualify as such (from depression to OCD), are commonly associated with autism, much more so than in the general population.

I hope that as you grow as a person you will adopt a more empathetic attitude towards others, and see how your words harm or have the potential to harm others.

If you want to call Autism a “mental disorder” you would be correct to call it that, as it is a neurodevelopmental disorder and cognitive disability. It is not however a mental illness. The DSM V classifies a lot of different disorders, some of which are mental illnesses and some of which are not. Conflating that something being defined in the DSM V also classifies it as a mental illness when the writers of the DSM V were very careful not to use that language, shows the very misunderstanding which I am trying very hard to show you (and failing) at best, and intentionally misleading on your part at worst.

Just the fact that you feel so offended about being called "mentally ill" shows how you feel about actually mentally ill people, like depressed people. That's all there is to it.

I am not concerned with how I perceive mentally ill people. Mental illness touches different facets of my family in different ways. I am quite familiar with it, it’s challenges and it’s stigmas. I don’t look down on mentally ill people, because I love and am friends with many people who suffer from mental illness.

My objections are due to the societal biases that others hold against mentally ill people. My problem with calling Autism a mental illness is twofold. 1. It is factually and scientifically incorrect. Full stop. End of story. This should be enough for you, but whatever. 2. When you call Autism a mental illness you take a group of people who struggle and suffer and loop them in with another group of people that struggle suffer. Autism has enough social stigma attached to it already. When you apply more social stigma to it by attaching other labels to it, you are actively causing more harm than good.

It would be one thing to offend based on a factual argument, but you have neither facts nor a moral/ethical argument on your side. There is no reason for one to call Autism a mental illness other than a factual misunderstanding of Autism. To cling to that ignorance and claim superiority is both arrogant and egotistical. It lacks any semblance of empathy whatsoever.

Its not factually incorrect whatsoever, you just don't like it. Autism is a mental disorder, no question about it--you even made the point by calling it a "cognitive disabilty." Cognitive meaning "relating to, being, or involving intellectual activity" and disability being obvious. Calling something a synonym of itself and arguing that its a completely different thing is pretty obtuse.

They said "mental disorder" would be correct. They objected to "mental illness", which is commonly understood to mean "psychological disorder".

Also, "disorder" is a more neutral word than "illness". Strictly speaking, it just means something is abnormal, not necessarily dysfunctional.

> The modern discussion whether it's a mental illness or not is just tiptoeing around the issue for non-medical concerns.

It's not; there's actually a medical difference between "mental illness" and "disability".

In the sense that they’re different things that can overlap, sure. A disability is any condition (including mental or neurological disorders) that causes significant impairment in one or more activities of daily living. A mental illness is simply a condition that is best dealt with by psychotherapy or other psychiatric treatments. One can be significantly disabled by a mental illness or not.

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