Although I'm in the UK, my diagnosis made over three years ago is "Autistic Spectrum Condition without intellectual impairment or functional language delay". Informally, I was told that this is equivalent to Asperger's Syndrome, but essentially, the new ICD-11 criteria had taken effect already at the unit which diagnosed me (more properly, it will have been the DSM-V, I guess.) I don't think this is particularly common here - I know someone who was referred by the same GP surgery as me and at about the same time, but went to a different assessment unit in the same district, and was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. Hopefully, implementing the ICD-11 will lead to greater consistency.
I don't think the ICD-11 goes far enough (no mention of sensory issues, meltdowns, masking etc.), but I do think it is a step forward. I see each autistic trait is a little spectrum all of its own, and although language acquisition is very important to interacting with the world around us, I never really saw a good justification for differential diagnosis based solely on that and intellectual capacity. The use of the word "spectrum" indicates well enough that autism is a "category" rather than a specific diagnosis to my mind. What really matters is whether or not the diagnosis leads to an in-depth analysis of what supports and interventions each autistic person might need across the full range of their autistic traits.
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20 Jun 2018, 5:03 am
