Help me understand the dif - if any

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I don't quite get Asperegers from autism.
I have heard it called a form of autism or very mild autism,
but I have also heard it is more serious than that.
I have "regular" autism I guess you call it?
I was non verbal until after 3 and only monosyllabic until I was bout 8.
So I started off as completely unresponsive to partly and now at 13 mostly responsive.
But I still obviously have autism. I am very withdrawn still and I'm very awkward. I get lost
really easily. If I get lost like at the mall and get help, ppl think I'm ret*d cause I get so tongue tied
and won't make eye contact and start flipping out and stuff. So idk am I the same autistic as someone
diagnosed with aspergers or different or worse?
BTW I am not down on myself if it sounds like that, I am happy with the advances I have made.

Under the old DSM-IV (Diagnostics & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders version 4) you would have been diagnosed as having "Classic Autism," vs. Asperger's Syndrome or High Functioning Autism. (one in the same, as far as I know.) According to "The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome," by Dr. Tony Attwood, the only differentiating symptom I can recall is speech delay as an infant/toddler. There may be a couple others, but that's the only one I recall.. which is rather silly.

I have a friend on the spectrum who at times has been higher functioning than me (I've now surpassed him) yet because he didn't speak for the early years of his life he'd be considered as having Classic Autism while I would be AS/HFA, even though as adults now for the longest time he was functioning at a higher level than me. Seems stupid.

I think a lot of Doctors and others also thought this was ridiculous, which is why in the new DSM-V there is only one diagnosis to cover everyone on the spectrum. It's "Autism Spectrum Disorder," or ASD for short. Now the diagnosis is the same for everyone, and then it's just a matter of Doctors determining whether they're going to consider you LFA (Low Functioning Autism) or HFA (High Functioning Autism) in order to determine treatments, counselling, support needs etc - but the only diagnosis documented now is "ASD," - the whole LFA/HFA thing is more informal & subjective vs. an official diagnosis differentiator.

My understanding is that under the DSM IV language delay was the difference: autism with no language delay was aspergers, with language delay was autism.

Under the DSM V, there is one diagnosis, Autism Spectrum Disorder, but this is accompanied by very important specifiers. The old high function/low function idea is replaced by three degrees of severity.

The degree of impact of the specifiers can also be indicated, giving a much richer clinical picture than the old PDD diagnoses and HFA/LFA split.

What are those?

Level 1: requiring support
Level 2: requiring substantial support
Level 3: requiring very substantial support

A discussion can be found Here

HFA can also refer to high functioning classic autism (i.e. Autistic Disorder in the DSM-IV, or Childhood Autism in the ICD-10). Different people use "HFA" to mean different things.

Your username reminds me of this one hit wonder song from the 90's:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v74yTy1UTuk[/youtube]

Oh okay, then I would be level 1 now. I can do most daily things like hygiene and grooming and getting dressed by myself now. But need support for anything outside of established routines. I can't go anywhere by myself yet if it means leaving the block I live on and crossing the street to go somewhere.

according to doctors its all about the severity of the symptoms, but personally, i think the difference is adaptability. i have a very low verbal I.Q and very slow information processing, but i have adapted to work with it so you can barely notice it. i used to react to my sensory sensititivities a lot by hidning, covering my eyes and crying but i have also learned to 'escape' so its not as bad.

It seems like op started out with moderate to severe autism as toddler and progressed to high functioning autism now. The difference between this path and AS is that AS starts out with milder autistic traits without significant language delays. A question is whether differences in early years matter into adulthood, and my hunch is that overall levels of functioning may not be different between hfa and as in adults, but there are probably still measurable differences in more complex social tasks on which hfa have more deficits, are slower.

High functioning autism can come with verbal or self-help skills delays but the symptoms seem more mild compared to moderate or severe autism.

Doctors could diagnose someone with either AS or HFA but I think there are a few differences.

I feel more comfortable being HFA for some reason. I'm very rigid although adaptable and I had a lot of cognitive delays and a slight speech delay. I was slow to reach basic milestones. I think mine was due to passivity though.