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Please GET RID of functioning labels!!!

Hope

Okay, I need to rant. Today I felt CryYell after an ignorant Neurotypical told me that I am 'really high-functioning'. This person, athough not an expert, does work with people who have autism. She does not know me that well, so what does she mean by this? I look, for want of a better word, normal, very normal in fact. There are no outward signs of disability; I have a University degree, I am eloquent and can speak clearly, and do not exhibit any concerning behaviour when I am out in public (note - if I am highly stressed, I can put myself in danger, but most of the time I do not display any strange behaviour). Yes my traits not immediately obvious, but my life is severely impacted by my traits: I cannot organise my life without parental support; I have OCD;dyscalculia; anxiety. Now, on there own, these traits might not be that significant, but when combined, they prevent me from working and living a full and varied life - is there anything high-functioning about this?!!! This label trivialises my difficulties and is incredibly patronising. Has anyone else here experienced  anguish upon hearing this term? Has anyone else been described as 'high-functioning', while disagreeing that the term applies to them? And is not 'low functioning' equally problematic?

 

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  • Former Member
    Former Member

    Labels are only useful if both sides in a conversation have the same concept of what the label signifies. It seems to me that

    a) ordinary people have very little experience of dealing with people with autism or Asperger's labels. If I tell someone that I have Aspergers then usually they have no idea what it means. If I say autism then they get even more confused.

    b) people with ASD have such different experience and are differently affected by the problem that we struggle to see how other people with the problem are different or the same as us.

    c) because we have difficulty imagining what goes on in other people's heads we can't even see what we look like from outside and we struggle to imagine what it is like to be a different ASD individual

    I think that the best thing is not to expect too much from someone if we tell them that we are affected by this mysterious condition. The label is just a start of a conversation.

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  • Former Member
    Former Member

    Labels are only useful if both sides in a conversation have the same concept of what the label signifies. It seems to me that

    a) ordinary people have very little experience of dealing with people with autism or Asperger's labels. If I tell someone that I have Aspergers then usually they have no idea what it means. If I say autism then they get even more confused.

    b) people with ASD have such different experience and are differently affected by the problem that we struggle to see how other people with the problem are different or the same as us.

    c) because we have difficulty imagining what goes on in other people's heads we can't even see what we look like from outside and we struggle to imagine what it is like to be a different ASD individual

    I think that the best thing is not to expect too much from someone if we tell them that we are affected by this mysterious condition. The label is just a start of a conversation.

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