Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello,
About two years ago, I was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder/Condition (this came as no surprise to me). After receiving the diagnosis and exploring the various social groups and resources provided by the various communities, trusts and institutions in my area, I was very surprised to learn just how unhelpful they all were (I don't mean to discredit the hard work of any individuals by this statement).
After having attended various autistic social groups, I noticed that I seem to be quite different from the other people in these groups. After having spoken to a professional mentor at my university, she informed me that individuals with the autism traits that I have are very under represented in these groups. Most people in these groups seem: to be very artistically oriented; not to like right/wrong or clearly defined concepts (artistic, gender fluid, etc); to be very emotionally driven and easily offended; not to like order, planning or scheduling (very chaotic). However, I seem to be the extreme opposite of these people, in that I: am very technically minded; am a very logical and critical thinker; like clear-cut and well defined concepts; am very sensation seeking (adrenaline junky, physical banter, etc); am very punctual; struggle not working to a schedule; am very rationally driven; lack some emotional intuition; and am not at all easy to offend.
My mentor has noted that she has worked with other autistic individuals that seem to possess many/most of the particular traits that I have. Unfortunately, most of these high-functioning social/meet-up groups seem to be dominated with autistic people the complete opposite of me.
This has made me wonder: Is there a formal categorisation of the particular type of high-functioning autism that I have? If so, where can I find resources to help me overcome the specific difficulties that I face? Thank you.
Kind Regards
Daniel
As far as I’m aware high functioning and low functioning never really had anything to do with one’s ability to function within society. Historically they were euphemisms for high and low IQ. And actually high IQ in terms of autism isn’t really high IQ. Most people would probably categorise an IQ of over 70 or 80 to be high IQ within the context of autism. Which for context an IQ of less than 70 is as low compared to average as a Genius is high compared to average.
when you get autistic people of IQs of say 100+ IQs that are above average people start being able to use that intellect to implement coping strategies that other autistic people can’t. And that’s a totally different ballgame. Autistic people with above average intelligence have a very different experience going through life because of the different coping strategies they tend to develop.
Very interesting
Peter said:As far as I’m aware high functioning and low functioning never really had anything to do with one’s ability to function within society. Historically they were euphemisms for high and low IQ.
There's an explanation here which, although it's focussing on children, is quite detailed (note though it's from 2019).
https://senmagazine.co.uk/content/specific-needs/autism-asd/7801/what-is-high-functioning-autism/