In my time pharmacy was spelt with ph!!!

In my day, pharmacy was spelled with a ph! As well as, there was also the designation of Asperger's Syndrome, as a condition within the Autism Spectrum Disorder. And today, on February 18, marks its day - International Asperger's Syndrome Day.

Some people say they don't want to talk about the name Asperger's Syndrome. They even repudiate this designation, once so cherished by many, for being associated with Hans Asperger, the Austrian doctor who gave it its name, and who more recently came to be associated with the Nazi regime.

But Asperger's Syndrome is not Hans Asperger, and even less what he did. And the entry of this condition in the DSM-IV in 1994 was of extreme importance. Not least because until then, there were many people who did not fit the autism spectrum, even though they had many of its characteristics. In 2013, with the transition to DSM 5, many people questioned its disappearance and the impact it would have on many people with this diagnosis. Even because many were still appropriating their new identity. And others who had already managed to "wear" it, found themselves again forced to be rethought. This is a demanding situation for any of us, from an identity point of view, and even more so for someone on the autism spectrum.

But people, some for one reason and others for another, were making this effort to drop the Asperger's Syndrome designation. But it soon became apparent that there was difficulty in differentiating people within the new condition Autism Spectrum Disorder. Even with the three different levels of support required, it was, and still is, difficult to make this differentiation. Especially if made only in the light of the DSM or the ICD.

I think that Asperger's Syndrome still represents, what for many years, and to a certain extent still today, is talked about, thought or observed from a clinical point of view, the different subtypes within the autism spectrum. And although there is a lack of accumulated empirical evidence to corroborate this, there are many who still think it is important to look at the subtypes. Depending on the functioning profile of the person on the autism spectrum, a whole set of clinical and therapeutic proposals and hypotheses adapted to the situation are designed.