![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1){kind=small}
Asperger's and Government Aid
I was made aware of an article in an australian newspaper, claiming that newly-diagnosed Asperger's adults would begin to strain the government's resources to take care of them.
Link here.
What do I think? I think it's more media sensationalism... more of the "autism epidemic" hype. After all, you don't have a story if you can't claim some sort of catastrophe either has happened, is happening, or will happen.
We Aspie adults don't really need a lot of government "services". Being high-functioning, we can hold down jobs and pay for our own social-skills training and such... Having those services available for people who, thanks to comorbids or severe AS, can't pay for them, is a good thing; but I don't think there will be a huge upswing in the amount of money the government spends on Aspies.
After all, before we were known to be Aspies, we were diagnosed with all sorts of things; and all those things had government services attached to them. What's more, a lot of Aspies, without treatment, without support, and being subjected to ridicule and abuse, have fallen into things like alcoholism, uncontrolled anger, depression, and personality disorders... With the knowledge that we are simply different, not defective, those things can be headed off before they even start.
I think that knowing that Asperger's exists is not going to result in a bigger expenditure for the government at all. Those of us who needed assistance before Asperger's became known, were probably getting it for some other problem--a false diagnosis or comorbid. And those of us who didn't need assistance, or paid for our own assistance, won't need government assistance after we found out about Asperger's.
All in all, AS adults are not going to be a problem for the government. What will be a problem are the children who used to be labeled "ADHD" or "oppositional-defiant" or "retarded"... will now be correctly labeled "Asperger's". Their parents, scared by the thought of having an "autistic child" (thank you, CAN, for making that phrase sound like a death sentence), will insist on huge amounts of government assistance, because, oh, no, you can't raise an Aspie child by just being consistent and loving and teaching what the kid needs to learn... you have to put the poor kid in ABA classes and therapy and chelation and special diets and various other forms of sanctioned child-torture, or he'll end up institutionalized!!!
(sigh.)
Link here.
What do I think? I think it's more media sensationalism... more of the "autism epidemic" hype. After all, you don't have a story if you can't claim some sort of catastrophe either has happened, is happening, or will happen.
We Aspie adults don't really need a lot of government "services". Being high-functioning, we can hold down jobs and pay for our own social-skills training and such... Having those services available for people who, thanks to comorbids or severe AS, can't pay for them, is a good thing; but I don't think there will be a huge upswing in the amount of money the government spends on Aspies.
After all, before we were known to be Aspies, we were diagnosed with all sorts of things; and all those things had government services attached to them. What's more, a lot of Aspies, without treatment, without support, and being subjected to ridicule and abuse, have fallen into things like alcoholism, uncontrolled anger, depression, and personality disorders... With the knowledge that we are simply different, not defective, those things can be headed off before they even start.
I think that knowing that Asperger's exists is not going to result in a bigger expenditure for the government at all. Those of us who needed assistance before Asperger's became known, were probably getting it for some other problem--a false diagnosis or comorbid. And those of us who didn't need assistance, or paid for our own assistance, won't need government assistance after we found out about Asperger's.
All in all, AS adults are not going to be a problem for the government. What will be a problem are the children who used to be labeled "ADHD" or "oppositional-defiant" or "retarded"... will now be correctly labeled "Asperger's". Their parents, scared by the thought of having an "autistic child" (thank you, CAN, for making that phrase sound like a death sentence), will insist on huge amounts of government assistance, because, oh, no, you can't raise an Aspie child by just being consistent and loving and teaching what the kid needs to learn... you have to put the poor kid in ABA classes and therapy and chelation and special diets and various other forms of sanctioned child-torture, or he'll end up institutionalized!!!
(sigh.)
Comments