Are autistics actually just retarded?

Yup. People romanticise them as smart but they're really not if they can't function or understand the bigger picture and what have autistic people actually done that is great? Being smart is about more than just a narrow specialisation.

Yes, socially retarded.

Is that you Father?

I agree with this.

Mental retardation is tied to an IQ score as well as limits to activities of daily living. So, no, they're not the same. You can have some people with Autism who also meet the criteria for MR, but there are some who don't.

Therefore r6, some autistics are simply retarded.

Autism is a spectrum disorder, so the manner and degree to which it affects a person varies. In my case, definitely socially retarded, but I was considered quite brilliant as a youth. Which I knew, and which made me insufferably arrogant, and which didn't help my unpopularity and lack of social skills one whit.

Another poster used the phrase "socially retarded". He nailed it. When I was in college, someone had posted an ad on a bulletin board for a social skills group. You attended the group, went on practice dates, and learned the social basics. I was thrilled to learn of it, and instantly decided to go -- until I got to the bottom of the ad and read that it was a program for the mentally retarded.

That's when it hit me: I wasn't mentally retarded, but I *was* socially retarded. I felt the shame of that for a good many years.

It wasn't until I hit my thirties that my social cognition finally began to improve. By my early fifties (and after a great deal of effort) I finally learned enough to be able to perform small talk, provide sympathy and understanding, and more or less pass as normal most of the time. The thing is, acquiring those skills is just as difficult for me as learning calculus is for the average person. And there was price to pay for acquiring those skills: I lost my most-treasured aspie superpower - the ability to focus on subject so intently, the world would go away and I'd enter a different world. It was a wonderful feeling while I was there, much better than this world.

I can make effortless small talk now, but I can no longer make my way back to that world.

I don't understand the purpose of your post, OP. What do you want to have happen? Your tone sounds hostile and bereft of compassion.

Are you the Aspergers Troll, OP?...you seem to have the same compassion.

Speaking of socially retarded...

R9 wins

I think autism is so broad that it can include what used to be called retardation but it is much more. I've never been able to get a handle on it exactly, seems like a catch-all.

Regardless these are human beings and must be cared for, and if using a gentler term like autism helps them feel better -- why not?

I don't think they are socially 'retarded'- they have feelings and they are cognizant of other people's feelings as well. They're just missing the manual, you know? Another way to put it would be to imagine that they have an emotional language and so do we but they're not the same. So when there's an Aspie at a party, they probably feel like everyone is speaking to them Mandarin. So they just keep trying and failing and then later retreat from the outside world entirely and get a hobby that involves objects or ideas but no people. People with Down syndrome, by contrast, seem to get along with the world fairly well but they just don't know how to do that many things. That's because, unlike many people with autism, they are irrevocably mentally impaired because the impairment sadly stems from their genetics. But they're known for often being lovely to be around because hey, guess what? No ego, no neuroses, etc. These are all higher functions of a developed mind. By contrast a lot of todays autistic kids are pretty emo and might take to social door slamming or when less developed, tantrums, because I think they are *incredibly frustrated* because what they are experiencing is not unlike a kind of emotional locked in syndrome. They want to be with the world but they don't have language or can't read subtext/micro expressions, etc. It's a vicious cycle.

People like the OP, R5 and R13 are what's wrong with the internet. Namely, that any sociopath and idiot can write stuff online.

Aspies tend to be really smart, so no.

They’re just brats.

Where are the fathers and the discipline?

I think there are several dimensions of development, namely physical, social, emotional and intellectual. If someone is retarded on the intellectual plane, we call them, well, retarded. If they are retarded on the physical plane, we call them disabled or handicapped. If they are retarded on the emotional plane, we say they have a Cluster B personality disorder. Finally, if they are retarded on the social plane, we call them autistic. However, they are all forms of retardation. They are all tards. So, yes, I agree with you OP.

She's dah ruh tard.

Pregnant mothers shouldn’t drink diet soda.

R18 = Ann Coulter

@AnnCoulter "I highly approve of Romney's decision to be kind and gentle to the retard."

I am really sorry r8 but I guess that doesn't help.

Just as long as they don't act like Rosie.

OP, when are you scheduled to be tested? Please let us know the results.

It's called a discussion, SJW at R9. That's what the OP wanted to "have happen," just as all the other OPs wanted when they started threads. I don't see a lack of compassion on OP's part, but I do see a good bit of smearing on yours, as with R11 and R15.

No, stop trying to take away credit from the retards

Is it true they all smell funny ‘down there’?

I smell funny down there, like kippers and Aero bars.

'Rosie, the retard" LMAO

They lack cognitive skills .

I used to work with children and adolescents with severe autism--couldn't speak, couldn't perform basic ADLs--and always found it interesting that their diagnosis changed to schizophrenia after the age of 16.

Once the hormones of adolescence kick in, the boys become very violent, generally.

Once the hormones of adolescence kick in, the boys become very violent, generally.

This is why they need to be institutionalized.

In answer to OP’s question - yes.

Some of them are legitimately mentally retarded, some are just tedious asses. Some are monsters that should never have been borne!

And they are usually so funny looking too.