[wizz15]

I think it was precisely because of those "shades of grey" characteristics it was decided Aspergers should be eliminated from the new DSM V.

When it gets released this means no-one will be diagnosed with Aspergers (along with other forms of autism) from then on, it will all fall under the same autism umbrella because of the range of the spectrum.

[smoyer]

I'm not sure I disagree with the decision to remove it ... and there's still no proof that all the diagnoses of autism are actually the same disorder (we have a lot of research yet to be undertaken).

On a side note, paging through the DSM can be both amazing and scary. My wife waves it in front of the students in her "Introduction to Psychology" classes just to show how many different types of formal disorders there are. As well as reading selected sections to them. What becomes quickly apparent is that there is no "normal". Everyone has tendencies towards (usually) multiple disorders and it seems (to me ... but I am not a Psychologist) that most of use reign in those tendencies for the benefit of society.