Published on 12, July, 2020
I prefer to use autism or ASD because I believe high and low-functioning autism creates a false perception of The Autism Spectrum. To me and I imagine many others, low-functioning and high-functioning create the image of a horizontal line with one side saying "most autistic" and the other side saying "least autistic", especially since I hear people say "end of the spectrum."
I see The Autism Spectrum as more of a circle divided with each section representing a difficulty, with the individual in the centre having a variation of difficulties with differing levels of severity to one another. Like someone described as low-functioning may be able to walk through shops with no oversensitivity while someone described as high-functioning can have a higher level of severity in sensory processing that it's too hard and not be able to.
Do you think we should avoid the use of high and low-functioning as they're not clinical terms anyway?
I can see why some would object to these terms, but I don't mind them. Not because I like them, but simply because I'm naturally reluctant to subvert or manipulate language as a response to political correctness. And for me, this is one of those instances. Replacing them with terms such as Level 1, 2 and 3 is precisely the kind of convoluted, corporate-managerial speak that results from this impulse to sanitise language. You are now a 'Level' of autistic, yet the word level denotes a position on a scale of extent, or quality. So, great, high and low have been removed and replaced by numbers... Hygiene Operative vs Cleaner; Retail Sales Associate vs shop assistant; Business Development Manager vs too useless to do a real job.
Business Development Manager vs too useless to do a real job.
That reminds me of a quote by Temple Grandin;
"What would happen if the autism gene was eliminated from the gene pool?
You would have a bunch of people standing around in a cave, chatting and socializing and not getting anything done."
I find that easy to believe.
If you mean "excuse" by "accuse" I agree with her.