Why are so many aspies mild?

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I think the point of that saying is, that when the expectations of social life are taken away, the child [or adult] is far more comfortable when they're left to their own devices, rather than suddenly losing themselves.

Probably because those who aren't mild are diagnosed with Autism rather than AS.

I have no idea but I've seemed to have noticed that from when I first joined this site back in September.
Yet I also like most people here have mine mild to moderate.

I'm pretty sure I'm in that mild to moderate category.

I actually tend to agree with you - it's not just a unidimensional axis, it's likely a lot of different genes and environmental influences. However, even in a multidimensional space, the statistical argument still applies. I simplified to a single dimension to make the argument easier to understand; sorry if I inadvertently seemed to be reinforcing a unidimensional model.

Airheads.

I love balloons.

Severe issues would probably prevent them from posting in the first place. One could also posit that the disjointed style of some posters - separation of phrases with blank lines rather than with punctuation and such - had something to do with it, though my guess is that that particular issue is more strongly correlated with youth.

Something funny,

One psycho at Attwood's said I was higher functioning than most of the people who go to their group meetings (AS). :/ That kinda caught me off guard. However, I think she was mistaking "appearance" for "ability", as people often do.

I know someone with ADHD does that so it's easier for other with ADHD to read her posts.
I actually picked up better punctuation from mimicking other people's writing style.
You are right that is a young person's thing. In my late teens I used to write like that a lot.

You seem pretty at easy with what you have and how you choose to deal with it so i hope you don't mind me posting this.

From reading your posts and how your life is affected, i don't understand how you could consider yourself even close to mild (this goes for most people, not just you). From what i've read your life would possibly be affected less by being blind, by being deaf, certainly by being in a wheelchair. Are these also mild conditions?

I don't think you have mild anything, i think you have at least standard/moderate AS and if we're calling AS a mild condition then you me and the rest of us must have a severe case of it.

Most with AS don't work (adults), most live at home or in institutions, and most have few if any friends. This is from all of the outcome studies I've read, and I've read pretty much all of them.

That's normal for AS.

People will retort with, but what about all of the people without a diagnosis! Well, if they're getting along fine, there's no need to have one.

Hello Daniel.

I've seen mention that most Aspies don't work or are in institutions in other posts many times on WP.

Could you direct me to a published research report that confirms this please

Thanks

I'm also interested in reading the results of these studies.

If it's true, it makes me so much more determind to be on the other side of the statistics.

Hello Brittany,

Yes, I work although I may be in the minority.

If these statistics are correct, then there is clearly NOTHING mild about AS.

I have developed some very idiosyncratic coping skills, including for my business, but that should not mask the fact that underneath all of that I am very socially impaired.

I know lots of people who have been labeled severe or low functioning (some agree with the idea of functioning labels and some don't) who post to places online. Some people you can tell by their style of words that they are different and some you can't. Same really as for people more readily deemed milder -- posting styles vary incredibly person to person. One woman I know has a vocabulary bigger than most autistic people I have ever met and she uses it while writing as much to prove seh can, as anything else.

The main thing is that they often don't post in places like this. It is very hard to come somewhere and constantly see people making pronouncements about people with the same labels you have worn. Even when the pronouncements stem from ignorance rather than malice. It can end up being a matter of picking your battles, or avoiding having to explain and justify stuff over and over. So this becomes one of many ways the online autistic community is divided.

In my case not only do I have professionals frequently calling me severe or LF (I am one of those that doesn't believe functioning labels are valid) but the sort of autistic person I am doesn't fit the main stereotypes either of professionals or of most of the online communities. But I put up with the comments people make because it's important to me to show people there is a whole lot beyond the stereotypes. (Both stereotypes about autism itself and stereotypes about what actions can be taken and how we can look at things.) But not everyone has the time, energy, or inclination to deal with this stuff.

One of the things I used to run into here a lot was people not understanding that my difficulties were real because they seemingly couldn't imagine some of them. And since they didn't appear to grasp the perceptual states that routinely prevent me from doing "easy" things, they made up emotional reasons for it. One person even said that because I had had trouble figuring out how to eat food that I couldn't see behind a cupboard door, then I must have a death wish. Others assumed self-pity. But for me those were just normal parts of my life which were caused by cognitive, perceptual, and movement issues and which had no emotional causes. (In talking about this I'm not looking for apologies or sympathy just stating facts).

I haven't encountered any of that this time around but I can easily see autistic people avoiding a place altogether after an experience like that. I can be more stubborn sometimes than most would in such a situation. Add onto that the constant references to "LFA" and "severe" in ways that can be far from the reality (and I am aware this isn't everyone nor a coordinated effort but it all adds up).

So there are lots of reasons some people who've been labeled severe wouldn't come here, besides inability. (And inability or lack of computer access is probably something that affects lots of autistic people regardless of label.)