Search the site...

Autism Spectrum Explained
  • Home
  • Introduction to Autism
    • Characteristics
    • Common Myths >
      • Negative Narrative >
        • Autism Controversies
  • How to Interact
    • Stigma & Discrimination
    • What to Avoid
  • Advice for Parents
    • Visual Supports
    • Autism Treatments
    • Explaining Autism to Kids
    • A Mother's Story
    • My Sibling Perspective
    • Autism Explained for Kids Site
  • All Kinds of Minds
    • Culture of Autism
    • Late Diagnosis
  • More
    • How to Assess Claims
    • What Causes Autism?
    • Additional Resources
    • Site Info & Feedback >
      • About the Website
      • ASE FAQ
      • Survey
      • Contact Us
      • Make a Submission
  • Our Blog
    • On Self-Advocacy
    • Trouble with Changes
    • Smoothing Transitions
    • Autism Speaks
    • Vaccines
    • Infantilization
    • Her Autism is Worsening
    • Stimming
  • Autism Tutoring
  • Home
  • Introduction to Autism
    • Characteristics
    • Common Myths >
      • Negative Narrative >
        • Autism Controversies
  • How to Interact
    • Stigma & Discrimination
    • What to Avoid
  • Advice for Parents
    • Visual Supports
    • Autism Treatments
    • Explaining Autism to Kids
    • A Mother's Story
    • My Sibling Perspective
    • Autism Explained for Kids Site
  • All Kinds of Minds
    • Culture of Autism
    • Late Diagnosis
  • More
    • How to Assess Claims
    • What Causes Autism?
    • Additional Resources
    • Site Info & Feedback >
      • About the Website
      • ASE FAQ
      • Survey
      • Contact Us
      • Make a Submission
  • Our Blog
    • On Self-Advocacy
    • Trouble with Changes
    • Smoothing Transitions
    • Autism Speaks
    • Vaccines
    • Infantilization
    • Her Autism is Worsening
    • Stimming
  • Autism Tutoring

On Functioning Labels

5/14/2014

0 Comments

 
Originally published May 1st

In the autism community, we tend to label autistic people as being "high functioning" or "low functioning" in accordance with how well we think they function in society. You've already likely guessed one problem with this - where's "medium functioning"? - but the problems with this labeling system go much further than that.

The first problem is what does functioning mean, exactly? Does it mean the ability to communicate verbally? Or intelligence? What about people like Amanda Baggs, who are quite intelligent, yet does not speak verbally nor hold a job? Is it, then, holding a job? Well, not exactly because there are plenty of "high functioning" people who don't have jobs. You get the idea. Functioning consists of so many different variables, and to apply one label is to gloss over the natural variation from person to person.

The second problem is, it over-generalizes. A person's level of functioning varies minute by minute. Some people, for instance, can verbally communicate very fluently most of the time, but sometimes can't speak at all. And meltdowns and sensory overload mean that a person could be functioning well in society one minute, but the next not hardly at all.http://musingsofanaspie.com/2013/06/26/decoding-the-high-functioning-label/

Misconceptions are another problem. The biggest one is basically that a "high functioning" autistic person is somehow less of an autistic person than someone who is "low functioning". There are the stereotypes that come with that - we tend to think "high functioning" people need/don't need certain accommodations and the same with "low functioning" people instead of taking it case by case. Plus there's this whole idea that the words of "high functioning" people doesn't apply to "low functioning" people, which is generally a pretty arbitrary difference.

And then, of course, the fact of the labeling itself is an issue. We give autistic people these labels, they're not generally self-given.
The labels also don't stand up to clinical tests of validity and tend to be based simply on the impressions of others as to how well an autistic person can pretend to be neurotypical. Also, categorical labels aren't generally conducive to spectrums anyways, so there's another problem.

I could probably keep going, but I think I covered the biggest points. I think we say "high functioning" and "low functioning" because they're short, easy labels. Even I will use them at times, to describe how a person seems to the rest of the world. But I rarely do so and always use quotes to make the fact that it's a serious over-generalization clear. I suggest you do the same. 

-Creigh
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    About Creigh

    I'm a college student who grew up with my Autistic younger sister, Caley. I've got a bachelor's degree in Psychology and I'm currently studying for my Master's in Speech Language Pathology.

    Neither of those, however, have given me an understanding of autism. All of my understanding comes from learning from the many autistic people that I know. As a result, I have a very different outlook on autism than most, and a burning desire to tell the world what I've learned. This blog is one of the many areas in which I attempt to do that.


    *Note, none of these make me a professional, so advice I give is not professional advice.

    Top Posts

    On Self-Advocacy
    Difficulty with Changes 
    On Parental Guilt
    Transition Time!
    My Autism Speaks Story
    A Tale of Two Sensitivities
    Autism and Haircuts
    Cause of Autism
    Vaccines and Autism
    Happiness's Variations
    I Cannot Call Caley Cute
    The Power of Listening
    Her Autism is Worse
    On Preventing Bullying
    Autistic Parenthood
    Facing Discrimination
    Stimming's Function
    On Anxiety

    Categories

    All
    Acceptance
    Accommodations
    Awareness
    Caley's Posts
    Cause Of Autism
    Change
    Controversies
    Creigh's Updates
    Different Not Less
    Empathy
    Kindness
    Listening
    Meltdowns
    Myths
    Parenting
    Presume Competence
    Reader Q&A
    Science
    Self Advocacy
    Stigma / Discrimination
    Stimming
    Understanding
    Word Choice

    RSS Feed

    Blog Info

    Starting about in March 2014, all of these posts are originally published on Autism Spectrum Explained's Facebook page, and later reposted here for archiving purposes and easy access for ASE readers, including those who don't use Facebook. 

    Archives

    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    August 2013

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from madmiked, Jim Larrison, Purple Sherbet Photography