https://www.templegrandin.com/

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The Problem With Labels

In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association revised the diagnostic criteria for autism. This greatly broadened the spectrum. It now ranges from brilliant scientists, artists, and musicians to an individual who cannot dress himself or herself. Over the years, the diagnostic criteria have kept changing. It is not precise like a lab test for strep throat. Labels such as autism, ADHD, sensory processing disorder or learning disability are often applied to the same child. In older children with no speech delay, the diagnosis sometimes switches back and forth between autism and ADHD.

“One of the problems today is for a kid to get any special services in school, they have to have a label. The problem with autism is you’ve got a spectrum that ranges from Einstein to someone with no language and intellectual disability,” said Grandin. “Steve Jobs was probably mildly on the autistic spectrum. Basically, you’ve probably known people who were geeky and socially awkward but very smart. When does geeks and nerds became autism? That’s a gray area. Half the people in Silicon Valley probably have autism.”

As the number of children diagnosed with autism continues to rise nationally, Grandin is sharing her message about the disorder and “differently-abled brains” with packed houses. At the heart of that message is this: Rigid academic and social expectations could wind up stifling a mind that, while it might struggle to conjugate a verb, could one day take us to distant stars.

Isn't the severity level supposed to at least partly address this issue?

It tries to, but it doesn't - Its largely useless, because is vague, it treats ability levels as static when they aren't, and its subjective, rather than objective. Another problem the labeling system has it that it treats the autism spectrum as if it were linear - its not.

Another case of trying to classify something they don't really understand.

How? Does it? Does it not polarise and alienate ‘low-functioning duties’ from the community. High functioning in my opinion is more and more used as an excuse to the NTs to tell them that we are not ’the ret*d’ they think we are, that we have an high IQ and only have trouble in socially functioning. What does that do or say to one who is standing on the other extreme of the spectrum about us? We are the smarties, we distance ourselves from the ones who cannot function at all without the help of third parties...I have grown hostile or allergic to the label Asperger, because it is Hans Asperger who selected the autistic people whom society could still use or have them productive for the Nazi society. So, the ones that didn’t make it were sent to the gasovens...would you like to continue to have this physicians surname as a label for what you are?

Exactly!

Verywell Health "Understanding the Three Levels of Autism"

It does seem imprecise.

I don't think I would equate Level 3 to "ret*d" but rather "disabled."

OK> thanks for sharing this site.

I think the "high functioning" and "low functioning" labels work for Level 1 and Level 3 (respectively) autism. But what would Level 2 be? Moderate functioning, I guess? I'm also not sure if I have a problem with the "Asperger" label, yes it has Nazi origins, but so does Volkswagen. Should we as a society change the name of those cars?

Volkswagen was designed to be the people’s car and others like Krupp, Siemens, not to forget Ford, served the Nazi regime with their inventions of machines to service the people. Asperger was a physician who knew very well he was collaborating in exterminating disabled people. Many Europeans were sent at a very young age-my uncles at 14 years of age- on trains to Germany as forced labour to work for those giants but producing machines for the Reich did not include genocide, extermination of people. Mengele was definitely a psychopath, loved to experiment on people like they do still on animals today- and whether we like it or not. Those who won the war have put to good use the results and achievements of those experiments. The Americans mad a deal with the butchers in Japan of whom most were allowed to continue to teach at the universities there, in exchange for all the research (torture) they did on prisoners of war in the Japanese empire. Did Hans Asperger in vent a machine like Volkswagen? No, he was just a tool in the Reich to select what the NAZIS saw as degenerates of the human race to create the perfect Arian race. That is a label I cannot wear, we might as well wear the she symbol handicapped people got-if there was such a thing- pinned on their camp clothes, such as the pink triangle for homosexuals, the David star for Jews, the brown triangle for Gypsies, etc.

This is my appreciation to "Temple Grandin" and how much I like her.