Thought experiment: would you mind stepping up in severity?

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PunkyKat
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07 Feb 2010, 5:46 am

Perhaps. At least people people might actualy believe me when I say I have autism. I was born LF. Sometimes I wonder if low functning autistic children are given the chance to grow they can "outgrow" being low functning and become more ASish; such as the case with Temple Grandin and myself.


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Ravenclawgurl
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02 Mar 2010, 8:47 pm

i would not want to have worse sensory issues because mine feel horrible to me


but sometimes i wish i was lower on the spectrum only so i could get more help and so people wouldnt expect so much from me



Last edited by Ravenclawgurl on 02 Mar 2010, 10:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

League_Girl
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02 Mar 2010, 9:58 pm

I wouldn't want more AS or even be LFA. I am fine where I am at.



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02 Mar 2010, 11:05 pm

I wouldn't want to, I don't see the point. I struggle enough already with AS and I don't see the logic in wanting to or not minding having more issues that you already do.


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03 Mar 2010, 2:25 am

In Australia it seems like there's not enough services (or they're hard to get into) for LFA's than there is for an adult with AS on disability pension. Or perhaps I am just lucky?
I'm moderate AS. My life is full or stress, anxiety and despair. Not always, but when it hits it sure hits. I also need to get diagnosed with ADHD.
I find it difficult to go to supermarkets, concerts, festivals, parties. Any little activity I do makes me exhausted and I can't concentrate on something I like doing for more than an hour.
If I could be more severe I would just want to anxiety taken away and that I lived in a home where I didn't have to become independent or social. Then there's also being taken advantage of that does happen. Now I know when to suspect people like that, and if it happens I would attack them before they attacked me. If I was LFA I probably wouldn't have that insight.


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mechanicalgirl39
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03 Mar 2010, 1:27 pm

If I could have savant skills, sure. Otherwise, no.


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ursaminor
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03 Mar 2010, 2:08 pm

I would like to go back to the level of autism/functioning I had as a child.



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03 Mar 2010, 3:29 pm

I wouldn't mind. I think it would be easier to be a bit more severe, because people would see right away that you have a disability. When you're stuck in the middle, people perceive you as normal but a little off, which makes it all the more difficult for them to understand you.


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Aurore
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03 Mar 2010, 6:21 pm

I wouldn't want to, not because it would make me inferior, but it might put financial pressure on my parents for social skills classes, supporting me if I had trouble getting a job, etc. Also my sensory issues are bad enough as it is :(


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Asp-Z
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04 Mar 2010, 11:04 am

Danielismyname wrote:
Simple question, but one that has a lot of implications of the nature of diversity, disability, disorder, the inherent worth people place on abilities, so on and so forth.

Just say you have AS [or thereabouts], would you mind if you moved to [traditional] HFA (Rain Man level), or if you have HFA would you mind moving to LFA?

I, personally, don't care if I were born LFA.


Depends. Which of my symptoms would be affected? Remember there are some LFA people who are very skilled at a lot of things, for example I know there's one who writes novels but I forgot the name.

So, yeah, the question is too general for me to answer.



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04 Mar 2010, 3:13 pm

Well let's see. We have no idea what autism even is. So we have no idea if increasing severity would make people more or less capable of dealing with the world. And there is no real basis for HFA and LFA, nor for the idea that "Asperger" is less severe than "HFA". Then the fact that there can be huge differences between people in each category and huge similarities between people put into each category. Add to this the fact that I see myself as a person without a functioning label (despite what it might say in my records, where if they say anything at all they say LF or severe for reasons unknown to me) the question makes no sense.

But would I rather be a different sort of autistic? Maybe. It depends. Generally I think we are who we are and should not be someone different than we are. How can I imagine being the kind of word-bound autistic I often meet online when the very idea of living in wordland makes my head hurt (and ditto the large group of autistics that even at their most overloaded can still recognize objects rather than just patterns of sensation)? I can't imagine being them because they are comfortable in situations I associate with massive brain pain. I guess they can't imagine being me either. So how can I decide if I can't imagine what someone's life is like?

Meanwhile I could switch arbitrary functioning labels and other formal classifications and still be close to identical inside. Why? Because they are arbitrary classifications. The autistics I most identify with have every diagnosis and functioning label possible. Many of us are separated by a hair's breadth in either neurology, physiology, or life circumstance. So perhaps changing functioning labels can require no change at all. In which case fine with me. Sometimes the label you get is a function of who diagnosed you rather than who you are. This is why it is wrong to assume so much.


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04 Mar 2010, 9:16 pm

I've wondered many times what it must feel like to be more severe...Like let's say if I were more socially impaired, would I get more enjoyment out of my interests? I wonder if it's a balance, for instance, social impairment + sensory problems = level of enjoyment of interests and alone time. That probably only makes sense in my own mind. Basically, I wonder if the low functioning Autistics are that way because they like their alone time more than we do, or if they like their alone time because they're severely impaired and can't be around people. I'm not saying that anyone is faking or acting more impaired, I'm just wondering if it's a natural process in the brain. Let's say the people who are mutes like being by themselves so much that they literally feel they have no need to talk to others, so due to lack of interest they don't. It's just a theory but feel free to attack it if you want.

Oh and to answer your actual question, no I wouldn't change myself, but sometimes I wonder what it would be like.



dustintorch
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04 Mar 2010, 9:17 pm

Actually, maybe I would change myself if it were under a time limit. Like 2 days or something and then I go back to normal.



Irisrises
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05 Mar 2010, 6:32 am

anbuend wrote:
Well let's see. We have no idea what autism even is. So we have no idea if increasing severity would make people more or less capable of dealing with the world. And there is no real basis for HFA and LFA, nor for the idea that "Asperger" is less severe than "HFA". Then the fact that there can be huge differences between people in each category and huge similarities between people put into each category. Add to this the fact that I see myself as a person without a functioning label (despite what it might say in my records, where if they say anything at all they say LF or severe for reasons unknown to me) the question makes no sense.

But would I rather be a different sort of autistic? Maybe. It depends. Generally I think we are who we are and should not be someone different than we are. How can I imagine being the kind of word-bound autistic I often meet online when the very idea of living in wordland makes my head hurt (and ditto the large group of autistics that even at their most overloaded can still recognize objects rather than just patterns of sensation)? I can't imagine being them because they are comfortable in situations I associate with massive brain pain. I guess they can't imagine being me either. So how can I decide if I can't imagine what someone's life is like?

Meanwhile I could switch arbitrary functioning labels and other formal classifications and still be close to identical inside. Why? Because they are arbitrary classifications. The autistics I most identify with have every diagnosis and functioning label possible. Many of us are separated by a hair's breadth in either neurology, physiology, or life circumstance. So perhaps changing functioning labels can require no change at all. In which case fine with me. Sometimes the label you get is a function of who diagnosed you rather than who you are. This is why it is wrong to assume so much.


Glad to see you again Anbuend, I've missed your input many times.