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've heard this take a lot but in my opinion it makes no sense to erase those words because there are distinct differences between autistic people's ability to function and it's useful to know what support is needed
Except as I've said in practice its really high or low intelligence that is mostly being referred to when they use the word function. It tends to confuse people.
You can have a person with an iq of 80 who can mostly look after them self, cook, clean etc. Then you can get someone with an iq of 120 who struggles to go a day with out some drama and who struggles to find the energy to do basic daily tasks (because of depression for instance).
Which one? People with 80 iq who can look after them selves or 120 who can’t?
edit: as in professionals focusing on my iq.. fun fact my iq couldn't actually be calculated to an approximate number
that hasn't been my experience lol