Comments | friendly_crips: Functioning labels

sammason in friendly_crips

Functioning labels

Apr 13, 2014 08:01

Most of the autistic people I know seem comfortable with terms like 'the spectrum' and 'high/low functioning' so I hesitate to give a different opinion. But I'm not comfortable with those terms. ( Cut for mention of self-harming )

the disabled person, conditions: autistic spectrum, describing disability: high or low funct, blogs

Comments 13

nightengalesknd April 13 2014, 11:39:29 UTC

I'm autistic and work in an autism-related field and I am VERY uncomfortable with functioning labels. While I have encountered a few autistics online who describe themselves as "high functioning" and distinct from individuals who are "low functioning," the majority of autistics I know on and off-line dislike functioning labels as well ( ... )

sammason April 13 2014, 13:15:50 UTC

Yes! I love 'Joe's Functioning Label' which I hadn't seen before. It made me laugh sourly because I quite often get told that my disability is not as SEVERE as somebody else's. The same person who judged me like that, may then make daft assumptions about how much I could do, if only I'd try harder. Bah!

nightshade1972 April 13 2014, 14:47:59 UTC

This, so much. I like this too:

http://timetolisten.blogspot.com/2011/09/disclaimer-i-am-no-longer-making.html

When I meet parents at the HydroAssoc conventions, I'm often complimented on how "high functioning" I am. I hasten to tell them that they absolutely SHOULD NOT assume their child will do as "well" as me, and "well" is a relative term in any case. I always say "Yes, I was speaking in complete sentences by 18 mos. Yes, I could read by 3.5 yo. Yes, I attended a private elementary school for GT kids. *However*...I'm on disability because I cannot keep up in a "competitive work environment." I couldn't ride a bike without training wheels until I was 10.5 yo. I still can't drive, and I'm 42." I may have a genius-level IQ (and I say that in all modesty, not bragging, just stating a fact), but how much good does it do me when I can't contribute meaningfully to society?

kath_ballantyne April 13 2014, 22:59:13 UTC

We don't tend to use high or low functioning at all. We do use spectrum to refer to autism, it's range of effects and associated conditions ( ... )

nightengalesknd April 13 2014, 23:16:46 UTC

Passing! That's exactly it. I don't know why I never thought of it quite that way before (I do plenty of thinking about passing and invisible disabilities) but I hadn't. I'll have to consider that as Discomfort #4, tying into passing privilege and ableism

It's about passing as non-autistic. Although I don't think most people actually pass as typical, but are instead labeled all sorts of other things such as "lazy" and "weird."

I don't have a problem with "spectrum" either, as I think it gets to the idea that autistic people are different from one another even as there are some common traits. Although I get families asking "where is he on the spectrum?" as though I can supply a specific point on a number line. And they say we're the overly concrete ones. . .

sammason April 14 2014, 08:46:07 UTC

A number line! Yes, that's why I don't like 'spectrum' as a way to talk about autism. In science I say 'spectrum' to mean variance along one line - the wavelength of light, the temperature of air. My disability isn't on a spectrum, and I don't perceive autism as being on a spectrum either.

My neuro often describes multiple sclerosis by tracing a line in the air with her finger. A graph of severity against time. Many people do that about MS, usually making it look like a fluctuation which doesn't really change in the long term. My neuro draws a line like a flight of steps. Sometimes I use the term 'stepwise worsening' when explaining to people why I don't want to be asked how my MS is 'progressing'. My neuro also uses her finger to show a frequency distribution of how well a drug works in different people.

But the daily reality of MS doesn't involve a simple, single line of variation. It looks to me as though autism doesn't involve a simple, single line either.

nightengalesknd April 14 2014, 11:05:51 UTC

No. Most disabilities don't really ( ... )

Thread 9

shehasathree April 18 2014, 05:44:35 UTC

The autistic corners of the internet that i inhabit tend to use (or be cool with) the term 'spectrum' but NOT functioning labels. I think that's pretty much how i feel about it, too, although i like what nightengalesknd said below about the problems with that and the idea of 'constellation ( ... )