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What are your thoughts on the term "High Functioning"?

Jalapeno

I've noticed quite a few autistic people on this forum describing themselves as "high functioning." I'm genuinely interested in hearing why people choose to use this label.

Personally, I dislike it and would prefer not to see it being used.

From the outside, based on my qualifications and career, many people would probably describe me as "high functioning." Yet I still struggle with many aspects of daily life and work, and I worry the label makes those difficulties seem less significant or suggests I need little support or reasonable adjustments, which isn't the case.

I'm also not convinced that the Levels 1, 2 and 3 always solve the problem, as our support needs can vary enormously depending on the environment we're in.

I also wonder whether some people use "high functioning" simply to mean they don't have a learning disability. If so, wouldn't it be clearer just to say that?

For those who do use the term, what benefit do you feel it provides—for yourself or when explaining your autism to other people? I'm genuinely interested in hearing different perspectives.

NAS - any thoughts on running a poll on this ?

Parents

  • I’ve posted the Understanding the Spectrum colour wheel previously but I thought it would be worth highlighting again. It illustrates how the term “high functioning” (disrespectful language aside) falls short as a descriptor. All autistic people have varying levels of support needs that are circumstance dependent. 

    https://the-art-of-autism.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/UnderstandtheSpectrum.pdf

  • in reply to ArchaeC

    It’s unfortunate that, in what could otherwise be a great resource, the author uses “neurodiverse” wrongly. (I’ve seen it before, and avoided sharing it for that reason, although I liked the rest of it a lot in respect of explaining the wheel concept).

    Acquiesce said:
    I'm autistic (or perhaps even neurodiverse?)

    Just to clarify, for  , here’s some information on the language around autism. which I hope is helpful:

    "It is common for words related to neurodiversity to be misused. For example, people might say ‘Autistic people are neurodiverse’ when they mean ‘Autistic people are neurodivergent’.

    Examples of accurate phrases include:

    Humans are neurodiverse.
    Autistic people are neurodivergent.
    Autism is a form of neurodivergence."

    NAS - Autism and neurodiversity

    On a related note, in case it’s of interest, "allistic" is a term that we can use if and when we want to refer, specifically, to everyone who is not autistic.

    Neurodivergence / neurodivergent is commonly understood to cover people who have one or more of lots of different conditions (including autism, ADHD, epilepsy, and OCD, for example). And the kinds of differences / struggles that we can experience - as autistic people - aren't necessarily shared by all other neurodivergent people.

    So, often, to get our meaning across, it can be clearer to just refer to ourselves and others specifically as autistic people, if that's the condition that’s relevant to the point we’re making.

  • in reply to Bunny

    Appreciated - I'm here to learn and this is helpful, thanks. 

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