How autistic am I?

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I’m a 24 year old adult female. I’ve been diagnosed with autism several times but I’m not sure what level I am. I know it doesn’t matter but I’m wondering what my functioning level would be to someone who doesn’t know me. Based on this information below what level would you say? Also if you can add any advice on how to become higher functioning that would be helpful.

-I can write well and I can speak in full sentences. Although I have trouble with people I don’t know and the social aspects of conversations.
-I am fully toilet trained, I can shower and dress myself.
-I had an iep in school and was classified as “multiple/severe disabilities” I went to a special ed school for a little due to my inability to stay in class and outbursts/ panic attacks.
-I have a job. I also am part of job training program for autistic adults. I work 15 hours a week (3 days) and now have a job coach only come once a week.
-I get disability for my autism.
-I was approved to have someone from the developmental disability team help me 40 hours a week in my home and community.
- I can travel independently if I know where I’m going. (Though I don’t drive).
-I live independently though I have constant help from parents and team.
-I have an average IQ but scored borderline delayed in visual spatial and moderately delayed in adaptive functioning. My biggest weakness was expressive & receptive communication scores that were scored in the <.1 percentile. My strength was quantitative reasoning where I scored high average. My ADOS score “far exceeded the autism cut off score.”
- I have few friends and have never had a boyfriend though I have the desire for both.
-I stim at home but most of the time I can control it if I go out.
-I’ve had a therapist tell me that it was obvious to people that I was autistic, but I had another one say it was an invisible disability.
-the most socially inappropriate thing I do is cry if I’m overwhelmed in public but I don’t have any of the behaviors that some severely autistic people have. (screaming, biting themselves, banging their head).
-I avoid crowds, talking to people, and anxiety provoking situations.
-I experience fatigue, anxiety, and major sensory issues with lights, sounds, smells, and touch.

Would you say this is mild or moderate autism?

Now for my problem: how do I know if the people who voted in my poll are being serious or sarcastic?

On the mild side, in my opinion. But "classical" autism, rather than Asperger's.

Maybe moderate when you're under stress.

In order to give you a more conclusive answer, though, I would have to meet you in person.

I would guess moderate since you need considerable assistance.

Maybe the right people to ask is the people that assessed you and the people that set up your assistance because the three levels are based on the need for assistance.

Do you feel the level of assistance you receive is adequate or do you feel you need more or less assistance then you do now?

I’ve been getting my updated evaluations by my state’s developmental disability program and they don’t tell you what type it is. I know I’ve gotten better since I was younger but I don’t know how to tell if I’d be high functioning now.

How old were you when you started to talk?

My dad says I was two and a half but I don’t remember.

I don't sense all that much "severity" in you. I see you as mild, perhaps going towards moderate sometimes.

But then....I'm pretty "mild" these days, and I didn't talk till I was 5 1/2 years old.

Thank you. Do you think it would be okay for me to say I have high functioning autism or aspergers? Or say I have mild autism? My mom just says I’m autistic if I’m at the doctors but I think I should say high functioning because I have an average IQ.

You would be considered "high functioning" by most people involved in autism, I would say. And mild.

But the worst thing one can do is lord their "functioning" over other autistic people. The problem with some Aspergians is that they have a superiority complex sometimes.

I know you're not doing that, by the way. I sense sincerity in you. You seem like one who is quite reasonable, and is seeking answers.

I believe each person has their gifts----and each person has their disability.

I am guided, when I think about people, by Gardner's notion of "Multiple Intelligences."

Levels have nothing to do with IQ. I'm Level 2 and have a high IQ. My level is because I'm very impaired in social situations, I have mutism, and I stim so much I hurt myself.

I get a kick out the term "mild autism". I suppose the opposite is "spicy" ?

Yes I’m not trying to have a superiority complex. I just feel like I’m often grouped with people who are not as high functioning. This started in school for me being in classes with being in classes with people who could not really speak. I still feel like the program I’m in is for below my level. I wondered why I’m grouped with people with more severe disabilities. I’m beginning to think people see my disability as worse than it is and I just want clairity on how people see me.

How did you tell your level? I have selective mutism. I just never get told my level.

I can understand that. You want to be around people who understand you.

It should be evident to those who know you that you have achieved considerable independence....and that you worked hard towards that.

Have you thought about going to college? Have you tried college?

There's a few autistic people in the college where I work.

Many autistic people do well in college.

My apologies that I didn't say hello, Lauren. Welcome to Wrong Planet! I was just assessed last year and my report is 20+ pages, ranking me by percentile against control groups, with standard deviation factored in. I'm not even sure what that means in terms of statistics (lol), but I know that my testing was very accurate, it was "double blind" (again I don't really know what that means), and it took nearly 12 hours. The report ranks my impairment by need, and most of my needs are categorised with the words "Significant", "Severe", etc. I don't think any of us on Wrong Planet can guess your levels of need, so I'd suggest contacting the clinician who assessed you for more detail.

I tried an asd college program but I have extreme difficulty focusing on classes that I’m not interested in and could not manage more than one class at one (I cannot multitask for the life of me) so ultimately it wasn’t a fit. I’ve thought about trying a class I’m interested in for the future though.