Published on 12, July, 2020
I'm not sure that it does. My psychiatrists over the years and my sister have described me as very intelligent . However I have much lower non-verbal than verbal intelligence. I struggle with day to day practical tasks. I get quite a bit of help from my stepdaughter and someone who comes in twice a week to clean. The help is described in my care plan as enabling me to continue living independently in my flat.
High functioning and low functioning are terms that spark quite a lot of debate. Generally they are terms to describe whether a person with autism needs looking after. A person that is low functioning is often non verbal, low intelligence and needs complete care. They would not be able to live independently in my understanding of this term.
High functioning seems to describe people who manage. Not exclusively but including people with high intelligence. Its a debatable term as just because a person is intelligent or can manage to hold down a job does not mean they function in every sense of the word.
What I get confused about is whether there is a middle. What do we call these people? Are they just autistic? Or is there literally just high and low functioning. If there is only 2 options then I'd definitely say you are high functioning.
So all in all I haven't really answered your question because I just don't think it's that clear what high functioning actually means!