are you low functining autistic/high funcitining autistic ?

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I would say high functioning overall.

Is there anything on this that you can link to that's more descriptive than wikipedia? I'd be interested in looking in these terms.

I completely agree with the rest of your post.

Yeah, lemme pull up a GAF scale...

http://www.psychiatrieweb.mywebhome.nl/ ... -Scale.pdf

There you go. As you can see, GAF is a "how are you doing right now" measure, and there are many reasons why one might have a low GAF. You might have a really low one because you forget to eat and have to be reminded, or because you're suicidal, or because you're having hallucinations. And all those people might be really good at some other aspect measured on the GAF scale. But GAF is a measure of the most severe weakness you have--it doesn't take into account your strengths. As such, it's a diagnostic instrument that measures how badly you need assistance, not one that says anything about your potential for success.

I find the measuring by weakest point interesting though. I tend to have the issues where people see that I was able to graduate from college on time, without academic support, and assume that means I have no functioning difficulties.

On that scale I'm somewhere in the mid 40s currently. (Two serious impairments plus moderate symptoms and moderate version of some listed as possible serious impairments (I rarely can make a decision about what to eat until I am developing physical pain from hunger, but I can at that point, I think that's a good 'moderate' inability to make decisions example)).

I've spent most of my life in the 50s.

That scale also actually helps me give numbers to help me understand some of my current problematic fears better by giving them number ratings. I've been being scared of traits of someone who was an 18-20, in someone who is in the 50s.

IQ doesn't really denote this either. Many autistic people score much lower on IQ tests than they otherwise could due to language/communication issues with understanding the questions. It is assumed that many people labeled low-functioning are also intellectually impaired, but this is unlikely, and it has never been empirically verified that I could find.

Which is, I guess, one of the reasons I agree with Tuttle and Callista on this point.

I think I'm higher functioning, although I think you could say I was low functioning when I was younger.

High functioning. I can do anything that an NT can do, except for some sports related things that require good coordination, but many NT's also cannot do those things. When I want to, I can hide my AS so that nobody would ever guess that I had it, although I don't normally bother to because I always just thought that those symptoms were just quirks of mine and dealt with them. At least until I was dx'd a few years ago.

I like them because each type has a category even though some people may have symptoms all over the board.
But I think if you don't require support for self care, can communicate through speech and have self awareness (though that might be a little bit of a generalisation) then you are high functioning.

I'm high functioning because I seem to have average language and self-care skills though I struggle with sentence arrangement and get behind in hygiene, feeding myself or keeping my living space clean or even knowing when I need to buy more groceries, because I get so caught up in my own interests, or dedicate most of my time to just one or two things.

My shut downs, usually following a severe meltdown can slow my mentally processing down as well as my ability to move.
When I get upset I get depressed and just stop. I won't even get up to feed myself. Even when the hypoglycaemia kicks in.
It's probably worse because I have epilepsy as well which can really slow me down.

My sensory issues are severe too. I always need to have ear plugs and sunglasses when I go outdoors. And now a hat for my sensitive skin in the sun.

People take my self awareness and intelligence as someone who is very high functioning. And because medication helps me talk to people and with my sensory issues people think I'm always doing great.

Even though I live away from home I still don't get things right away. I still get lost around my street and I've been living here for four months. I still panic and have meltdowns when I have to do things on my own that I have no clue how to do. I still get upset when something disrupts my routine or people say they'll do something and don't do it.

Even though I live semi-independently I don't feel high functioning.

it would be more accurate to say i am on the high side of low-functioning, than to say i was on the low side of high-functioning. i managed to stumble through an enlistement in the army, but i really didn't belong in there. i had a series of civil service jobs that a monkey could've been trained to do 'cept for the last one [hospital coding and transcription]. i've never been able to make friends [with one very unlikely exception] or to attract any kind of mate. my hobbies are rather involved but solitary. i have to remind myself to not perseverate around strangers. i guess i'm in the lower middle range of functioning, among people on the spectrum. i'm not bill gates but i'm not a DSHS client either [although i sure could benefit from it if i were].

Replying to ocdgirl123's quoat, "I am about the only one on wrong planet who likes the labels.I like them because they give you a general idea how "autistic" a person is, though I don't think they should be used as a black and white think. I'm not sure, I have the meltdowns at the lowest functioning level, however, I am high functioning on every other level. So because there is only one thing that makes me low functioning, I'd say I'm high functioning because I would be able to pass as NT very easily without the meltdowns."

About you being low functioning in meldowns, I think your talking about severety. I don't think HF & LF really mean mild or severe. Or at least, hat's not what most people define them as. I think they apply more to either weather you have intelectual disability or not, or how able you are to function in society. I do fiond those terms confusing though & ther's so many defenitions. I perfer the terms mild, moderate & severe, evben though even that doesn't work perfectly.

I'm high and I'm functioning. I guess that makes me high functioning.

Well, good to see that there are several of us here. Now I don't feel as much a fraud. Hehe. I'll just add that I'm HFA enough that I can never be diagnosed. So either I'm HFA, or just a weird NT. Take your pick.