Severity

Post Reply New Topic

This is something I'm really curious about, so please answer and post why if you want. This is focused on Asperger's Syndrome.

Answer accordingly to the below information as of your age now. If you think other factors play a part pick your own option if this doesn't work for you.

Very mild -- I can work and attend school without accommodations. No one needs to know of my diagnosis.

Mild-- I can work and attend school but need mild help / accommodations sometimes.

Moderate-- I can not work or attend school without accommodations / help.

Severe-- I can not work or drive and need accommodations/help for school or special education.

From anecdotal evidence (my own) i would consider myself moderate to severe.
I also remember getting some tests somewhere (don't know about methods of testing,ect) that it was moderate to severe.

From my seemingly inability to succeed in school. A preference for isolation. And my general strangeness and difficulty socializing outside of my interests.

It is possible that the autism disability spectrum is more complicated that this simple chart?(i really don't know)
Maybe you should modify the chart to include inbetweens?

I've seem to have misread your severity specifications. Under those, I'd be moderate to mild.
(I somehow didn't even look, or think)

Last edited by t55 on 20 Jul 2009, 1:53 am, edited 2 times in total.

I clicked the wrong button i should have clicked "Mild" as I am working and I live alone without assistance. There are some situations or conditions when I do need help with something such
as negotiating or dealing with certain types of social situations.

Damn I should have voted mild. I didn't read the post first. I cannot attend school without little accomodation because I needed help in almost every subject in high school so I am between mild and moderate in this case because I can work but I cannot attend school without little accommodations. It's due to my learning disability though.

Getting my driver's license last January bumps me out of your Severe category. And I have been working for five weeks now, with accommodations and a job pretty much tailor-made for me... five weeks is shorter than the burnout time of the better jobs I've had before but I might not burn out this time. If the summer ends before I go nuts, I can call it a success.

I think there's another dimension here, though; sometimes when you put out a lot of effort, you can do more than you normally would, at the expense of extreme stress levels. The problem with that is that you can't keep it up forever. NTs seem to assume that if you can do it for a little while, you can do it forever, but that's kind of like assuming that if you can run a block, you can run a marathon....

Last edited by Callista on 18 Jul 2009, 6:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Mild...but more like mild-to-moderate.

I'm not sure how to answer. I've always done well academically, although when it gets into the realm of graduate-level research, that kind of thing is probably beyond me. I can write well and take tests well, so I tend to get good grades. And then forget everything I learned. If it involves "the real world", I am totally lost.

I have had jobs in the past (been a stay-at-home-mom for many years now), but never anything that paid much more than minimum wage. I tend to do very poorly in work situations, for a whole lot of AS related reasons. I can't imagine what kind of "accomodations" could be made. I just know that I can't multi-task to save my life, get easily confused about what to do, get extremely nervous when talking to anyone who might be in a position to judge me or my work, etc.

I can barely drive at all, except in rural, not-much-traffic areas (which don't exist anywhere near me).

So, I'm a bit of all of these things. I'm a mom with two kids and a husband, and we manage, but we have a rather unusual family. I don't know how I'd cope without my husband. He does most of the "grown-up" stuff.

I'm aware the little chart I made doesn't really cover everything and might mess things up for some people because there are so many factors. It's just a general idea. If something else works better for you or someone could improve it that'd be cool.

"Severe" by your definitions.

Albeit, I'm on the "high-functioning"/AS end, as per my psychiatrist anyway (where run-of-the-mill autism is on one end, and AS is on the other end).

I chose moderate, but didn't read your post first. I'd be more moderate to severe.

I live with my mum, she cooks for me and does the shopping. I clean up as best I can. She does a better job then me at cleaning.
I can't drive or work.
I couldn't do school work without help. Even the course I did last year I needed a lot of help and I had to put in extra hours of study.

I fall into "mild" on your chart, as I can attend school without help, as it's easy to be schitzoid-like in school, but I find work too difficult without an employer knowing. I had to sit through a one-hour break every day for a week when I worked in a solicitors office, in the corner, embarrased as hell when the other employees small-talked. Hell incarnate

I would say very mild. I don't know what counts as accomodations or help though...I've had jobs since I was 14. They were all minimum wage of course and I got yelled at by my bosses all the time. Mostly for having problems with customers and for spacing out on the job. I was always getting told I was too slow and that I would spend to much time organizing things. In all of my jobs I would pick someone and study them and ask questions. So I would always have sort of a mentor. Someone who I would go to for help with social situations. I don't think I would've been able to do my jobs without one. Does that count as accomodations or help?

I voted before I saw the description of the choices. I voted "moderate" based off of my own opinions, but I'm "mild" according to the descriptions. However, I find it interesting that "I cannot drive" is only under the "severe" rating. I cannot drive because of my AS and OCD, but I only need mild accommodations at school. So, if you balance those two out, I guess I'd still be considered moderate on the choice descriptions.

This balancing thing is also why I consider myself to have moderate AS in general. I have some symptoms that are very mild (like my social deficits, which I can easily hide), but other symptoms are quite severe (my sensory issues, the degree of intensity of my special interests, and my need for sameness/resistance to change).
-OddDuckNash99-

Perhaps a point system would work best. Like if you stim nearly all the time it'd be 3 points, 2 for moderate, 1 for mild, and 0 for very mild. So on and so for for sensory routines work school etc?

I'm probably the opposite. Although I wouldn't say my sensory issues are mild.

I rated it very mild. I have touble with so many things, but I don't fight those things that give me difficulty. Instead, I do things differently than the people around me. I also don't worry about things that would normally trouble autistics. I don't stress about being different or friendships or any of that other stuff. I just let life guide me down its path. When I see a forked road, I take the path I wish to take.