The terms "low-functioning" or "high-function

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For me, they don't mean much. I have Asperger's which is considered a "high-functioning" form of autism. But put that with the other severe mental disabilities that I have, and I have quite a bit of difficulty with every day tasks. I haven't driven a car in several months, I can't sleep at night and I'm exhausted during the day, I get physically ill when I'm out in public, and I can't accomplish anything because I can't focus on a task long enough. As far as I'm concerned, that's pretty low-functioning right there.

Yes, I think this is a big drawback with the idea of 'functioning'. And as a reverse of your example, there are those who appear highly intelligent and fully ‘functional’, yet have unexpected deficits that blow the mind of others (mainly NTs). This seems to frustrate those who don’t understand that just because you can speak and do assignments and get good grades doesn’t mean that you will naturally be good at things like simple maths, auditory-only input and remembering to eat.

So what is ‘functioning’ talking about then? One poster mentioned IQ as the determiner, but while this might be a nice definition to have in research, it doesn’t really hold up in real-life situations. I know plenty of people with high IQs that can’t hold down a job (for whatever reason), and I also know a lot of intellectually disabled people who can and do. Living independently? Many men in our society can’t live independently because they’ve always been ‘taken care of’ by a female (I know I’m stereotyping, but it’s true – I work within a large geriatric population), and yet they’re not classified as ‘disabled’, merely ‘needing assistance’. So where do we draw the line on ‘functioning’?

‘Mild’ and ‘severe’ are also problematic, (yet I think this is the way the DSM V is going to classify). As one poster pointed out a couple of years ago:



And Tony Attwood said (at a conference) it’s unfortunate that Aspergers will essentially become ‘mild’ Autism, because

Still, there is obviously a very clear problem with lumping all Autistics together because we’re such a heterogeneous group, and someone is going to end up affronted or unrepresented. It’s a dilemma I don't see being solved any time soon.

I have somewhat similar experience, although it does sound like you face greater struggles, so what works for me may or may not work for you, I'm happy to share it.

I really hope in a couple of years we have nonprofit spectrum help agencies. For example, I have a heck of a time calling my health insurance company when I need to. I can put it off for days and days running into weeks and weeks. So, I'd love a volunteer to come over and make the phone call for me while I read in the background and vaguely listen.

Since getting my iphone about a year ago, if I'm in a public place which feels safe, enough other people around, etc, just in my gut feels safe, just having the iphone feels like a potential escape. And it's completely socially acceptable to surf the web while in a public place. Might be able to do the same thing by reviewing a folded page of notes as if I'm taking a class.

It really was a sea change for me reading a book about sleep hygiene that there's two upswings each day in the circadian clock and two downswings. The upswings "typically" come at 9am and 9pm, the downswings at 2am and 2pm, a lot of variation between individuals. And then just the idea, wake up the same time each day even if I've slept poorly, and then be open to an early afternoon, energy-slump-time nap. There's even a trick of drinking half a cup of coffee before the nap, takes the caffeine about a half hour to kick in. I have not yet really tried this trick.

The problem with theese terms is that a person's functioning level is very inconsistent.

I like f(x)=?

I know, it just sounds so harsh.... High Functioning and Low Functioning...even numbers would sound better. If there was just another way to classify it.

Did Hans Asperger actually find something "wrong" in our brains? I've looked on the Wiki page of AS and I can't find an explanation for it. Could it, through all of this time, just be a personality trait?

That's true, but how would a person with low functioning autism feel? I'm not quite knowledgeable of low functioning autism either. I don't mean to be ignorant but what would somebody with low functioning autism be like as an adult? When I worked at a preschool we had a little boy with autism and he was really hyper and he didn't really talk. Would somebody with low functioning autism be offended when they hear that term, would it lower their self-confidence? I know if somebody labelled me with something like that I'd probably have a dip in my self-esteem a little bit. I might feel like I wouldn't be able to do certain things that other people can do. I don't know...that's just me. I remember when I was 12 I went to a psychiatrist and she called me ret*d, to this day it stuck with me and sometimes I feel really stupid. I try not to let it get to me but it sticks. I just don't like labels. I think numbers would be a better classification system.

Depends on the day, the situation, the task. Some days I feel completely incapable of taking care of myself, other days I can take on the world. The bad days I still have to get up and 'function' to an extent simply because I have no one to look after me, but it's often just surviving. How do you classify it? How do you quantify the low bits and the high bits and end up with a point on the spectrum?

I think the only thing HFA vs. LFA is good for is distinguishing between those on the spectrum who are verbal vs. nonverbal or have an IQ above 70 vs. an IQ below 70. Otherwise, I think it's pretty useless. Just because somebody who's "high-functioning" can talk and has "normal" intelligence doesn't mean that they're able to function in the real world and live independently.

Hi, you seem plenty smart enough to me.

For myself, I have patchy social skills, and also patchy intellectual skills. Now, every human being who has ever lived probably has patchy skills, but I think mine are more patchy than average, and that's okay.

I wish counselors, psychiatrists, etc, took the view, play to strength, be matter-of-fact about any deficiencies. I think that's so much more helpful than a rush to labels.

Rather than simply labeling it low-functioning or high-functioning, why not use a classification that focuses on the type of impairment? For example, A could indicate a speech difficulty and B could indicate a social difficulty. A person with difficulties in both areas would by a type A-B. A very severe speech difficulty could be represented by a C, or G, or whatever. That would be a much more useful and descriptive labeling system.

you dont know much about LFA?
you should look up severe autism on youtube, there is a amasing boy, jamey. how has SUVERE classic autism, there are videos that show what low funciting autism is, and how he as progressed so amasingly in the latest videos, hes like a diffrent man, he often bites, and bangs on his own head, non verbal, seizures.

but the videos are so amasing of him.. hes just amasing to watch. videos from kggcount/CDfoakly.

.............

myself i am moderate low functining, quite non verbal.
i hit myself, i have to wear protective gear on my legs and hands to help stop beating.
i dont realy get called anything by anyone, just autistic.

Thanks, yes I agree with you about the labels thing.

Thanks, that sounds really interesting and I'll definitely watch the videos.

When Asperger wrote his paper, brain scans didn't exist. (It was 1944.)

And actually, that's pretty much what he thought. He was arguing that this 'abnormality' seems associated with special talents, so it was actually a good thing. (Of course, this was around the time when eugenics was big - he probably specifically emphasized talents in order to save their lives.)

And besides, brain abnormalities don't prove whether it's wrong or just different. It just proves that this characteristic is related to the structure of the brain. Personality variation is associated with neurological differences too. There is no scientific way to say 'this is something wrong, that's just part of diversity'. Anyone who thinks there is is just fooling themselves.