disabled

So on one of my asperger's forums there is a discussion going on about whether or not autism/asperger's is a disability. The general consensus I am gleaning from this is that most everyone admits there is some huge obstacle they hit because of their autism, but they don't consider themselves to be disabled because HFA/asperger's is a GOOD thing and shouldn't be thought of negatively.

Here are my thoughts:

I think a lot of people make the mistake of assuming that "disability" is an inherently negative word. I don't consider it to be. To me, it just means that I cannot do something I need to do. That isn't a bad thing to me, because I have AS-- I have a good reason. If I just couldn't do something because I suck, then I would see that as negative, but if you have a legitimate diagnosis of something that makes you in some way different, for better or for worse, that explains a difference in ability, I don't see that as a bad thing. In an NT world, I AM disabled by my autism. But in general, I don't think that makes autism a bad thing. It's just a different thing, which means that the sweeping generalizations society makes about what one can or cannot do will not necessarily always apply to me. Yes, that makes me disabled, but that doesn't mean there's anything *bad* about my condition.