Hi Simon.
Welcome to WP.
I think the best way to explain what being diagnosed with low functioning Autism means is that it means that you need a very substantial level of support from other people. You might need help with basic communication for example, like how your parents helped you write your post. You might need help with things like dressing yourself or personal hygiene or with being ambulatory or maybe you are not able to prepare a simple meal or wash your clothes without a lot of help. Or you might not be able to do these kinds of things at all and perhaps someone has to do them for you. You might also not be toilet trained or perhaps you can't use a toilet without help. And these types of struggles would be consistent in your daily life meaning that you would have trouble with these kinds of things all the time and not only on some days and not others. Some people also consider you low functioning if you are nonverbal. I personally do not agree with that one. In some clinical settings Low functioning means that your IQ level is measured to be less than 70 points.
People who are considered high functioning can also struggle with all of the things I mentioned above except that their IQs would be higher than 70. But those of us who are considered high functioning tend to be inconsistent in how we struggle. For instance, someone like me will have days where I can cook meals, even elaborate ones, and do laundry and go to work and take care of all my personal hygiene and communicate well, but I will also have many days when I am not able to do any of those things. Sometimes I can go for many days in a row when I am not able to do these kinds of things. And some days I might be able to do one or two things and not do anything else and other days I might not be able to function at all and I can't do anything at all except lay in bed and wait until my functioning abilities come back. There are also days that I become nonverbal.
So I think that one of the differences that I have noticed, and I could be wrong, please correct me if I am wrong, is that people who are considered low functioning tend to be much more consistent in their different functioning levels whereas people who are considered high functioning can have very radically different inconsistencies day to day or even moment to moment in their functioning level abilities.
I know that many people who are labelled low functioning are extremely intelligent and when they are given ways to communicate that work for them, they can communicate extremely well. I also know that many people who are labelled low functioning have specific areas in their lives where they can function at very high levels and who can completely surpass someone like me in their ability to do certain things. So we should never judge someone's ability to do something by what label he or she is given. As a person who is labelled high functioning, I have the opposite problem all the time. People constantly expect me to be able to do things that are too difficult or even impossible for me to do. That is just as unfair as constantly underestimating a person who is called low functioning. But I think the best way to think of it is by the amount of certain types of support you need from other people in order to be able live your daily life.
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"I'm bad and that's good. I'll never be good and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me."
Wreck It Ralph
23 Jun 2018, 12:42 am
