'DSM-V is taking away our identity': The reaction of the online community to the proposed changes in the diagnosis of Asperger's disorder

Impact Factor:1.137 | Ranking:21/36 in Social Sciences, Biomedical | 81/136 in Public, Environmental & Occupational Health | 5-Year Impact Factor:1.396Source:2012 Journal Citation Reports® (Thomson Reuters, 2013)
David C Giles David.Giles{at}winchester.ac.uk

University of Winchester, UKThis article considers the fate of Asperger’s disorder in the light of proposals for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.) to collapse Asperger’s disorder along with other pervasive developmental disorders into a general spectrum of autism. It is argued that a powerful lay and scientific culture has evolved around the concept of Asperger’s disorder, which has found a particularly compelling voice over the last decade in the online Asperger community, with websites such as Wrong Planet recruiting tens of thousands of members. In order to assess the impact of these proposed changes on the online Asperger community, 19 threads on the topic of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.) are analysed according to the arguments that community members put forward in favour of, or in opposition to, the proposals. Many members embrace the notion of the spectrum and have already coined a new identity – ‘spectrumite’ – to adapt to the diagnostic shift. Others, however, are suspicious of the motives behind the absorption of Asperger’s disorder, and potential threats to the provision of services as well as the strong ‘aspie’ identity that reflects the large literature and the online public sphere around Asperger’s disorder. To what extent this culture poses a challenge to the authority of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is uncertain at present.

© 2013 SAGE Publications. Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC

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Mexico floods will not affect proposed 2013, 2014 budget deficits -government

MEXICO CITY, Sept 28 | Sat Sep 28, 2013 3:13pm EDT

MEXICO CITY, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Mexico's proposed budget deficit goals for this year and 2014 will not be affected by some of the worst storm damage in decades, the Finance Ministry said on Saturday.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto had previously said Congress would revise its proposed 2014 budget in the wake of the storms this month, which killed at least 147 people and left large swaths of the country under water, buckling bridges and destroying highways.

However, the Finance Ministry said the government would now shuffle existing funds to pay for the cleanup - estimated by Mexico's insurers' association to top 75 billion pesos ($5.7 billion), the highest bill ever from a natural disaster in the country.

"The costs associated with reconstruction will be met with available resources through the reorientation of some funds, but without affecting in any way the public deficit proposed for this year, or next," the ministry said in a statement.

The government has a 12.5 billion peso emergency fund, but will seek to divert 5 billion pesos from road-paving to spend on reconstruction, it ministry said.

Mexico's government will therefore stick to its aim, announced earlier this month, of widening the budget deficit next year to 1.5 percent of gross domestic product.

The government has also asked Congress to approve a deficit of 0.4 percent of GDP for 2013 after an economic slowdown this year hurt government revenue. Congress had passed a balanced budget for 2013 last year.

Finance Minister Luis Videgaray said on Friday that tropical storms Ingrid and Manuel will likely knock off about 0.1 percentage point from growth in 2013 and would temporarily boost inflation by no more than 0.15 percentage points.

Videgaray also said the economy, which contracted between April and June, would see stronger growth in the third quarter.

Mexico's economy is heading for its weakest performance since 2009, barely growing in the first half of the year and sparking fears that the country is flirting with recession.

Pessimism about prospects for Latin America's second biggest economy has increased due to the flooding, a poll of analysts this week by Reuters showed. ($1 = 13.17 Mexican pesos) (Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Simon Gardner and Christopher Wilson)

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