Published on 12, July, 2020
Is What does this actally mean in practice, not the dictionary definition, but for those of us so labelled? Although no ones ever told me I'm high functioning, I guess I am.
Is it a helpful term or unhelpful?
Does it express our experiences properly or reflect away from them?
Is this a term more helpful to NT's than us?
Personally I find the term a bit insulting as well as divisive and dismissive.
TheCatWoman said:Personally I find the term a bit insulting as well as divisive and dismissive.
Can you tell us why you feel it is divisive and dismissive please?
I think it is fairly descriptive and in the absence of better labels, quite appropriate. The "functioning" part is how well we are able to function in society compared to others with autism, but that is just my opinion.
What Amerantin said, and because I think that it dismisses our ability not to cope, 'but you're usually such a strong person' being one example thats been said to me more than once. I think it's divisive because it ranks us with a top and a bottom set of characteristics, and it's very difficult to change rank, such ranking sets limits and boundaries on what we are and are not allowed to "do". And I do believe it to be a case of being allowed, high functioning people maybe made to feel like they've failed if they have a meltdown or just become exhausted, low functioning people maybe led to believe they can never achieve anything and so are never given the chance to do so.
The NT world seems to want everyone to be part of a tribe that they can exert some control over, divide and conquer, this is how I feel that the term high functioning works. 'Look at them over there, do you want to be like them? You're not like them, you're better than that.' With the implication that we should pity others, that there will be no pity for us should we slide into meltdown and drop our masks. I see it as an attemt to divide us from our neurokin.
But it's too one dimensional. I am extremely 'high functioning' in terms of my career and finance but could not be much more 'low functioning' socially.