can you be high functioning, but still can't be independent?

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Can someone never be able to go out on there own, have a poor sense of direction, never get a job, never along, but still be high functioning?

Sure, you can. There are so many different levels of High Functioning Autism; one size does not fit all. I know of some people who are high functioning and they own their own businesses. I know some others who have to live in group homes because they need more supervision.

Can you have aspergers & still be like that?

Well, it depends on the definition of "high functioning", which I think, for the large part, can be subjective. Unless someone is using a formal scale to assess someone's functioning, like the Global Assessment of Functioning.

Asperger's, like all ASDs, can cause some pretty uneven skill distributions in people, so it wouldn't surprise me that a person who appears high-functioning in certain areas also have difficulties in others. For instance, I'm good with writing but I'm shocking at reading maps [I get lost easily], I'm a university student but I can't tell left from right, etc.

If it was not for my father I would not be able to get to jobs, go to see my doctor, or go to the stores out of my walking distance. I get lost everytime I take the bus and even with an alarm clock I can't wake up to get up for work. The only reason I was able to keep two jobs for nine years each is because the bosses kept me because they thought they could take advantage of me because I never asked for pay raises like my NT counterparts. My last job co-workers yelled at the boss for keeping me at $8.00/hr they did not want to loose me to fast food joint who paid the same they were afraid they would have to do my work if I left. Then it took an other three years to get up to $10.00/hr. It took me eight years to get $10.00/hr while the NTs took 2 years and they did less work and came in late all the time. I am somewhat high functioning but I find it hard to live on my own and even harder to keep or get a job. My suggestion is to go on disability it is not worth the aggravation your co-workers will put you through when they torment you everyday. Trust me if you are different they will pick up on it and let you know how bad it is to be different. I regret being diagnosed late in life if I was diagnosed in my 20's I would have been saved a lot of torment from co-workers maybe I would have been a nicer person and not so worn down and mistrusting.

Or even better; when you were a child or a teenager at the most.

They did not have a diagnosis for Aspergers in my adolescent years or my teens. They did spot it until the mid 90's when I was in my 20's.

Ok... Fair enough.. If you don't mind me asking, when did you get the diagnoses?

Ok... Fair enough.. If you don't mind me asking, when did you get the diagnoses?

Last year 2010 August 6th at age 40.

I am kind of mid-functioning I think, but my psych classified me as having moderate classic autism (which would be mid-functioning, yes?) but I am considered HFA as opposed to LFA. (I don't think MFA is a popular term). Anyway, I am HFA because I speak and I go to university and I do quite well. No IQ test, but my IQ is likely above average. I am far from independent though. I am 27, still live at home, and hardly pay for anything on my own. My parents have to do almost everything for me because I can't do it on my own.

It's hard to tell. While I believe a high-functioning person with autism CAN make do in the NT world, it doesn't mean they can do it well. A little help in the right places can greatly enhance your life.

There's nobody, NT or aspie, that doesn't need help sometimes.

High-functioning but not independent describes me well. I can't seem to break out of my parents' shadow.

I am high-functioning enough to live an independant life just like anybody else, but my high anxiety disorder gets in the way, so I require some help with finding and keeping employment.

I have the diagnosis of Asperger's. I'm high functioning, but not independent. There are some things I just can't do - I can't drive a car, there is some cleaning that I just can't do, the fact that I can't drive a car combined with my sensitivity to smells has made it such that even if someone would interview me, we're not sure how to work around that to have me stay employed.

Reading through the DSM-IV for Asperger's and Autism I can tell you where I fail for the classic autism - I didn't have any delays in social interaction or speaking and was able to participate in imaginative play, there is no question with those criteria that I'm an aspie. At the same time I'm fully aware that I will never be able to drive a car despite that being assumed of even the average aspie.

ABSOLUTELY!

Functioning level has absolutely nothing to do whether someone can hold a job. A low functioning Autistic can get a job through the Department of Rehabilitation so whether one has a job or not means nothing in terms of one's ability to function independently.