I adore Judy Endow's work. In this blog she nails exactly why I don't subscribe to functional labels and believe they are detrimental to us as a community of autistics. Have a read (full text at link) and share your thoughts?
Quote:
In this life I am missing the ability to go out into the world and just be accepted for my natural autistic self. I must inhibit so many of my natural responses just to fit in enough for others to allow me a place in the world. I have discovered that to have a place in this world I need to fit into it in a way that makes sense to the majority. For me, this isn’t a good or a bad thing – just merely the way it is. Fitting into the world is something I need to balance with the essence of my being so as to come out in the most positive manner possible.
A few years ago I took a pottery class for adults – not disabled adults – just plain ordinary adults. I explained my obvious-at-the-time movement differences in terms of my autism. Several weeks later out of the blue, a fellow potter asked, “So Judy, are you high-functioning?”
In the context of working on my hand built sculpture, surrounded by others using potter’s wheels I replied, “Some days. And you?”
My question was never answered. Only silence followed. It wasn’t until I was on my way home that I figured out the question was meant to be in reference to my autism – not to my sculpture building abilities!
Many times when I disclose my autism the first question I am asked is whether I am high-functioning or low-functioning. People are not at all meaning to be rude, but rather, just trying to understand what they think is important about me.
In reality high-functioning and low-functioning are not real labels, having no definition, no skill set lists, and no diagnostic criteria. Yet these words are often used to determine opportunities that will be denied or extended to an autistic and in assigning the correct amount of personal responsibility and blame to an autistic for the way his autism plays out in everyday life.
read more here...
http://www.judyendow.com/advocacy/high- ... nctioning/