Asperger Syndrome - Is it a LEGAL disability?

rainbow1

please can someone let me know if AS if classified as a 'legal' disability

Yiman60

http://www.autism.org.uk/about.aspx

Its a recognised neurodevelopmental illness.  

jamieknight

Hello,

Sorry neither of the above are technically correct. I deal with this stuff for my job, apologies for being a bit boring.

Autism / ASD /  Aspergers are neurodevelopment conditions as defined in ID10 and DSM-V (medial manuals). They are NOT an illness or a disease, thats a very different classification.

Part of being autistic is having impairments. It is diagnose by the presence of impairments in communication, social skills and flexibility. For example, i have impaired speech and most of the time cannot speak. An impairment may be a disability in some circumstances and thus the person becomes "disabled".

For the purposes of UK law having a formal diagnoses of Aspergers or any else means you have a legally recognised impairment.

If you applying for benefits, you have to prove that the impairments are disabling in your day to day life.

For most autistic people, one aspect of impairment due to being autistic will result in becoming disabled somehow (normally executive functioning skills etc) but Aspergers / ASD / Autism alone is not considered a disability.

Hope that helps, sorry its a bit complicated.

Kind Regards,

Jamie + Lion

Sam_Alumni

Thanks @jamieknight - does this help you @rainbow1 ?