Why are people buying the line that this was driven primarily mental illness

[OrwellwasRight]

139. Again, that is my point.

I don't think "illness" is the same as "disorder." The OP mentioned mental illness. Asperger's (if that is indeed what he had--we don't have any doctor's diagnosis) is a condition you are born with, a disorder, a birth defect, whatever you want to call it. It is not the same as depression, which can be contracted temporarily, and then either cured or perhaps just controlled.

I don't feel this conversation has progressed at all because you have not addressed my point that I don't think Asperger's is a mental illness. Just repeating that it is a disorder, (which I agree with) isn't taking us down the road toward mutual understanding.

PS The DSM is not particularly useful. It now classifies grief as a mental illness (http://www.slate.com/articles/life/grieving/2012/03/complicated_grief_and_the_dsm_the_wrongheaded_movement_to_list_mourning_as_a_mental_disorder_.html). It is not. It is a legitimate response to the death of a loved one. It also over-classifies potentially normal behavior as mental illness (http://harpers.org/archive/1997/02/the-encyclopedia-of-insanity/).