Similarities between disabilities, and how some rare illnesses resemble autism.

Noticing similarities between disabilities are not uncommon but understanding those that exist can help to answer some questions that you may have. Especially in a situation where there is a long wait to have a diagnosis or the diagnosis has been given but because of being a rare illness little is known about it.

I am in no way saying go and make a self diagnosis as similarities does not mean it is the exact answer you need, but what I am leaning towards is possibly bridging gaps of things you have observed or are aware of. There may very well be useful information to support everyday circumstances you experience or beneficial therapies already available.

Similarities between some disabilities

Many people with different disabilities can share a number of traits, although they may have a wide range of experiences and challenges. If we were being broad then a list of similarities could look like this:

• Limited communication: where there may be difficulty communicating or speaking. 

• Mobility: some may have difficulty with basic physical mobility, or it can be more complex needing additional aids.  

• Need for support: there may be a need for support with everyday simple activities from getting ready to being safe and navigating outside. 

• Sensory sensitivity: some may be unusually sensitive to touch, sounds, and visual details.

• Cognitive impairment: this can result in someone having an intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorders and even behavioural or personality changes.

Now lets look at something more specific, using autism as example.

Autism as an example only

Autism covers a wide spectrum. Depending on the area of the spectrum someone is on, it could impact the severity of their challenges or condition. The autism triad is used to describe the areas of difficulty someone may experience, involving three areas: Social interaction, Communication and Imagination. If we break those down from a very very high level:

• Social interaction - This may be not understanding unwritten social rules such as taking turns talking and may display what seems to be a lack of empathy.

• Communication - In this area it may be difficult to understand things like the tone of voice, gestures, body language and figures of speech.

• Imagination - The person may not be able to expand and have a limited range of activities, instead enjoying a rigid routine.

Some notable characteristics of autism may include:

• Seizures

• Feeding and eating problems

• Restricted and repetitive behaviours and interests

• Difficulty managing unstructured parts of the day

• Sleeping issues

• Poor awareness of danger

• Obsessive following of rituals

• Impaired imaginative play

Now that we have a basic understanding of autism, what other conditions can resemble or present itself similar to autism? Andréas RB Deolinda, from Autism parenting magazine very nicely sums up a few examples:

Rett disorder

Rett disorder or syndrome is a rare genetically inherited neurological disorder that is usually recognized amongst children between the ages of six to 18 months, almost exclusively in girls, and causes severe disabilities that affect the majority of their ordinary daily activities including eating, speaking, walking, and even breathing.

Infants with Rett syndrome appear typical in their first six months but over time lose the abilities that they have gained such as rapid loss of coordination, muscle coordination, and speech. In parallel, some children with autism have a similar experience where development initially appears typical but at a certain age they start regressing (around 20 months) losing abilities such as communication ability i.e. speech, motor and fine motor skills, and learned skills.

Fragile X syndrome

Fragile X syndrome is a genetic disorder that affects males more severely than females, such that they suffer from a range of developmental problems including learning disabilities and cognitive impairments. Other symptoms of fragile X syndrome include anxiety and hyperactive behavior such as fidgeting or impulsive actions, attention deficit disorder (ADD), and a delayed development of speech and language.

According to Fatemi, et al. (2011), some symptoms of FXS include learning difficulties, difficulties with fine motor skills, repetitive behaviors, delayed language acquisition, seizures, poor eye contact, and inattention. It’s evident almost all of these traits match the symptoms profile of autism.

Landau-Kleffner syndrome

According to the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) which is one of the institutes and centers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Landau-Kleffner syndrome (LKS) is a rare neurological syndrome that is characterized by the development of a condition known as aphasia (identified by the inability to understand or express language) and suffering seizures. Some may also experience symptoms such as behavioral problems i.e. hyperactivity, inattention, outbursts, and impulsivity to name a few.

The difficulties with language and communication among several other symptoms are synonymous with autism, hence this condition can be confused for autism without proper diagnosis.

Prader-Willi syndrome

Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a genetic disorder that causes hypotonia (low muscle tone), as well as challenges with feeding and slow growth. The feeding challenges often lead to obesity due to affected children developing extreme appetite. Other symptoms include developmental delays and mild to moderate intellectual disability, cognitive impairment, temper tantrums, stubbornness, repetitive behaviors, and obsessive-compulsive tendencies.

Due to the overlapping symptoms of PWS and ASD, clinicians, families, and other professionals suspect that these two conditions can co-occur. However, accurate diagnosis of each condition separately has to be conducted to conclude this.

Angelman syndrome

Angelman syndrome is another genetic condition caused by deletion or mutation of the UBE3A that affects the nervous system. Some symptoms include severe physical and learning disabilities, absence of or very little speech, difficulty coordinating movements, tremor movements of the arms and legs, distinct patterns of behavior such as happy disposition and random episodes of laughter, seizures, sleep disorders, and feeding difficulties.

Williams syndrome

Williams syndrome (WS) is a genetic disorder of which symptoms include delays in cognitive development and language delay. An associated medical problem is heart disease (cardiovascular disease) due to narrowed arteries. WS occurs as a result of mutation on chromosome seven. Symptoms such as intellectual ability and learning difficulties are shared between autism and WS.

Why Autism as an Example?

I chose autism on purpose as I see some of the traits in Luis such as repetitive behaviours and interests as well as poor awareness of danger. His diagnosis does not include being autistic however having read up on autism, I can see the benefits of understanding other disabilities, and possible things I can use to support him or why some of his therapies may overlap those for autism.

Through my research and various discussions, I have come across many who can relate to autism or similar features although having a different diagnosis. They have also researched more to understand what to expect and find any other underlying similarities.

With comparable behaviours or symptoms and information available for us to research, we may get some of the answers we are looking for, and some we may not be able to with something as sensitive as life expectancy.

It is worth noting as I stated at the beginning, research is not the route for self diagnosis it is still important to seek some professional medical support as each condition has its own specific support. Taking all into consideration is there an advantage in doing some comparable digging? I will let you decide.

References:

https://www.autismparentingmagazine.com/autism-similar-disorders/