"Real autistics" versus Aspies and HFA

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Are there any standardized objective definitions?

I don't think it's based on low IQ because not all LFA's have low IQ. However, as far as I can gather, low IQ often seems to be associated with low functioning autism though I'm not sure why LFA's would be more likely to have a low IQ than HFA's and Asperger people.

Just for fun an associate of mine who heads a psych. department took 3 online IQ tests (which claimed reliability and validity) in one day, the scores ranged from 140 to 103! Loud laughter ensued...

Were they able to work out why they got such different results from the different tests?

Was each score lower than the last? Mental exhaustion could be a factor.

I don't think it's based solely on IQ either. IQ tests can actually be pretty important (and they have been found to be stable in autistic individuals), but I agree that a score alone cannot determine one's ability to function in this world. While those with higher IQs have accompanying brain differences (studies have shown that the rate of change of cortical thickness is associated with higher IQs), those with lower IQs do tend to require more overall support, hence why IQ is involved in the diagnosis of intellectual disability - but it's not the sole determining factor, might I add, though in the past it was sometimes - and/or "low functioning" autism. From what I can tell, it just seems that people use the term differently - I'm not sure if this stims from professionals using it differently (such as one defining it by IQ only and others defining it similar to the intellectual disability diagnostic criteria) or if people just starting misinterpreting what the professionals meant with the functioning labels.


I don't get it. So they took the tests to prove that online ones aren't reliable and valid? I don't get it because everyone already knows that online tests can't be trusted for reliability and validity.


I would assume it's because online tests are known for not being reliable, valid, and standardized. An actual IQ test would be all three of those to be able to determine the most accurate results.

Some people are sounding a bit chippy/defensive in this thread.

Do you see the severely disabled LFA kids as competition or something? I genuinely don't get it.

PS: I'm tired, bored, and anxious and most certainly haven't read the thread properly, so I've probably missed every subtle nuance going.

Last edited by NiceCupOfTea on 21 Dec 2014, 5:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Jezeabel commented: "I don't get it. So they took the tests to prove that online ones aren't reliable and valid? I don't get it because everyone already knows that online tests can't be trusted for reliability and validity"

Just for fun was why he took the tests, as per quote... even psychologists can have a sense of humour occasionally!

Yes, I saw you'd written that, but I guess I just don't get the humor. I've been known to not get those kind of things. *shrug*

I resent everyone who's had an easier or nicer time than I had, so yes I would resent somebody with Asperger's who had a happy marriage, a fufilling job, etc. Quite bitterly resent, depending on the person and the circumstances.

*said the savage and the philistine*

And no, I don't give a f***. I am what I am.

My therapist works with some people who are much less communicative than me. She really enjoys listening to my descriptions of everything, and can relate them to what she sees in other people - not necessarily every description to every person. She can take these descriptions, apply them to what she's watched in others (but been unable to describe because its harder to describe purely externally), share them with parents as well as the patients (as she sees both), and work with them to find ways to better adapt now that they have a better idea of what's going on.

Sometimes she can use adaptations from me, other times she can't, but the knowledge is definitely able to be passed between people who look at first glance very different symptomatically.

NCOT I find your honesty about your feelings refreshing, even when that honesty is not very favourable to me!

You're depressed, though. It's your prerogative.

I didn't slag you off in this thread, did I?? <_<.

Anyway thank you. I must be honest: at times you have really irritated me (that's probably more a reflection of how easily irritated I get though, especially recently). But you are starting to earn my begrudging respect for your tirelessness in campaigning for older folks on the spectrum, trying to help out other people out, etc. We'll probably never see eye-to-eye on some things, but I think you possess an almost refreshing passion and lack of cynicism: I'm younger than you but feel like I'm 80 years old and been through the wars. Even though the closest I've been to a war zone is watching my nephew play Battlefield 4.

EDIT: Cheers as well, Persimmonpudding. I think... >.>

Thank you, that lifts my day! No you didn't slag me off in this thread

Of course. Being outspokenly surly is the first step to a better outlook, actually. That's what I found out when hoisting myself up out of complex PTSD from an abusive childhood, along with the concomitant dissociation and deep depression. When you realize that you are within your rights to speak out about your unhappiness and shouldn't be ashamed of it, that's a step forward. It's self-affirming. A lot of people who have never battled depression fail to understand that.