Whats high functioning autism?

Not true. I am HF but have classic autism. 

High functioning simply means you've got an average or high IQ.

It also says nothing about being social or not because I am awful at socialising.

People with full time jobs and families are the high functioning ones, the Chris Packhams and the Gary Numans.

I am in the second or third division of autism. The ones who find it hard to socialise. The ones who go for a walk at 3am to avoid meeting people. The ones whose contact with the outside world causes them to suffer anxiety and depression.

Have you seen the episode of South Park where Stan asks "how much must a society hate a group of people to call the condition they suffer from Ass-Burgers?"

my experience is, high-functioning means "has a job, house, boyfriend" and not means "lives at home with parents, unemployed" - it doesn't mean high IQ, like you'd think. But everything about this is confusing, so i may be wrong

Whether diagnosis mentions Asperger or not,the important thing is that diagnosis comes under the umbrella of an ASD. Thus allowing for necessary intervention at what is hopefully the earliest opportunity. Always push for what you believe is right and what the individual with an ASD absolutely needs. With positive intervention a child's limits can be as infinite as those of an NT child.

I must admit I find this Quite confusing. My daughter was diagnosed under the CASBAT team and under went a lot of assessments and at the end we got a report (as big as a book) with all of her assessments in and a covering letter that explained the assessments and then says she was assessed using the triad of imparements and that her official diagnosis is Autstic. No mention of aspergers. we are now waiting for her to get a EHC as her mainstream school can't cope with her needs. The senco and women from our education department thins she needs a specialist autism unit 

Aspergers is not generally diagnosed in the US now I believe but is still given as a diagnosis here in the UK. I was given a diagnosis this time last year as having an ASD with Aspergers still defined.

Thank you for the reply. My daughter was diagnosed under the triad of impairments and from what I have been told this is the old way to diagnose autism and as she has problems in all 3 areas they gave the diagnosis of autism and not Aspergers. It can get quite confusing but I spoke to NAS about this and they confirmed that in the old way to diagnose a person had to have problems in all 3 areas to be autistic, if they didn't then other conditions like Aspergers were considered 

Hope said:

Recently, as reflected in the new edition of DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorder), it has been understood that HFA and Asperger's are really the same condition.

Whilst the above is true, the DSM is American and, whilst the manual is influential, most diagnoses in the UK are based on the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), published by the World Health Organisation. Apparently, the current ICD (ICD-10) is virtually the same as DSM-4. The next version of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) is due to be published in 2015 and the World Health Organisation will consider the changes made to DSM-5 and have said that the aim is to align the ICD with the DSM as closely as possible, but their descriptions are often slightly different. Please visit Q&A: DSM-5 for details.

I have posted a reply to the original comment but because it contained two links to NAS web pages it is being held for moderation.

In the past, high-functioning autism was a term that was used to designate a group of individuals who showed classic signs of autism when young, alongside delayed speech, but over time showed enough cognitive and social ability that they appeared different to a 'typical' autistic child. Crucially, they developed speech and increasingly exhibited a desire for social contact.

Recently, as reflected in the new edition of DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorder), it has been understood that HFA and Asperger's are really the same condition. Individuals who historically were given the label of Asperger's exhibited normal speech development and did not usually show overt autistic signs when very young, which is why Asperger's is often diagnosed at a later age. However, there was no consensus about what is normal speech development,and the cut off between HFA and Asperger's was very arbitrary. Consequently, the two terms have been combined into the more general term Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Asperger's is not usually given as a diagnosis since these changes.

I hope this helps to clarify things.

These NAS pages should be of help:

• 'High-functioning autism and Asperger syndrome: what's the difference?'
• 'What is autism?'