How severe is your autism by proposed DSM-V severity levels?

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I thought this other and it's still not going to work. The severity scale is a total failure for me.

Everything's hard but I'm still pulling through pretty decently to the point that I can mimic being non-autistic (professionals said so, parents of autistic kids said so, random people who know a little about autism said so) at times because my brain fortunately is a most dedicated worker and does, apparently, work more than a lot of normal people's brains do without breaking down

- and then there are times when I can't say a word, forget where I am because I'm overwhelmed (edit: I mean in a perfectly normal everyday environment), forget all kinds of stuff I know because I'm overwhelmed and there's no room left to retrieve critical information (yeah, a name, who needs one), can't move smoothly/with purpose because my brain just took a forced holiday from it's insane workload that temporarily slowed it down to comical turtle-speed.

Things like that scale representing an interpretation of how autistic impairments can show always make me question whether I really have autism or something rare and undiscovered.


Nevertheless, thanks for your input Tuttle and CyclopsSummers.

Sora, I also actually have no idea where I fall on RRB. It just happens that level 2 social communication is a good description of some of my traits and that levels 1 and 3 both aren't. It doesn't describe everything, but it describes one thing that they'll look for.

It might make it easier on me as well that I don't try to blend in, and that I can look at what the professional who diagnosed me wrote about me.

I flip between level 1 and 2 depending on the day. Very occasionally I'll be a 3, but that's mostly when I've got other stuff going on too, like in the middle of a depressive episode when I've lost my coping skills.

Mostly 2, I guess, at least for the restricted/repetitive behavior issue. I'm very schedule-dependent, very much thrown off by transitions and changes in routine. Unexpected things just completely overwhelm me. New things take a long time to get used to. They often cause meltdowns, even positive things can be too much...

Social communication isn't so bad. Just a lot of awkwardness and blithe ignorance of society's rules. People seem to read me as a very nerdy, awkward sort of person; it helps that I don't have significant social anxiety. I certainly don't have a "reduced" response, but it is highly "abnormal". I lecture at people given half a chance, and you know what--I don't care to change that. I'd much rather talk about something interesting than participate in meaningless chatter. And, anyway, meaningless chatter is not useful to me at all, and half the time I end up saying ridiculous things that aren't true but fit into the conversation. It's not true communication at all, just following scripts.

I put 2. I live in full time care now. this means some one is with me 24 hours in a day. but next year they are saying may be I will only need care some hours of the day. this maby will become like level 1 then.

Is there a link to this DSM proposal?

5th option is bunk, bloody hysteria over this. If you can't get your diagnosis based on new criteria then you shouldn't have gotten the diagnosis at all.

I put that I don't need support, but would still be classified as ASD under the criteria.

I'm not sure what they mean by "support". I take 3 different psychotropic meds (one for sensory issues, one for depression and one for ADHD), and when I have a lot of stress I require counseling. If that is "support" then I guess level 1.

~Kate

Sensory issues are actually addressed in the diagnostic criteria. This is just the severity scale of said criteria.

Sensory issues greatly alter ones ability to function and interact with others so the worse they are the higher on the scale you go.

I cannot function without medication because of my sensory issues. This also affects my ability to communicate. Even on medication I need extra supports put in place too. I think I would be Level 2.

In between the first scale and loss of diagnosis, should I be re-evaluated and decide not to sabotage the conversation.

At the moment, my main problems seem to be my appearance and my voice. Wearing anything that is considered fashion is a sin to me, I look several years younger than I really am and I'm severely underweight. My voice is frail and monotone, and my sense of humour and emotions are often misinterpreted by those who think they know me through my diagnosis. Generally, though, by people who don't know my diagnosis, I'm just considered eccentric or somewhat random.

I would lose the diagnosis. If there was a level milder then level 1 then I would likely be classified there. Because level 1 says "without supports there's noticeable impairments", I wouldn't say so. I've gone pretty long without supports. But then if I was diagnosed as a child, I probably would've been level 1. My social development was getting rather lagged behind by the time I was reaching 17, 18.

I would easily be classified as level 3 if someone took an objective view of my personal life, but I have little to no support, and am ok with that. I can temper the severity for certain occasions, such as work and school, during these events I would mostly be in line with level 1. I'm not sure; do I average them and say 2? Or am I none of the above because on some superficial level I'm working and surviving? Arg.