Un-categorizing Your Autism

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If you had to uncategorize your autism in terms of severity or functioning level, what would you say about it?

Would talking about your autism without severity/functioning labels be harder for you or easier? Preferable or not?

For me, what I say would depend upon context and why I was saying anything at all. I can't describe my diagnosis as a particular "something" unless I describe it in terms of my brain working differently (e.g. neurodevelopmental disability)....there are too many things that go into it.

I prefer talking about my autism without functioning labels, but it wouldn't be harder or easier for me....

If I use the severity/funcitoning labels, the ease of using only one or two words is countered by my inability to know what those words mean to the other person. (I have never seen a universal definition beyond the IQ divide for HFA/LFA ... And when I've seen people write out their own definitions on WP or elsewhere, I never fit into any of the categories the way they're written -- I usually fit into most or all of the categories partly or don't even know which categories I fit into because the words do not describe specific things). It's hard to communicate effectively when you don't know if you're on the same page as the other person .... or when you've figured out you're not on the same page but you don't know how far apart your places in the book are (or even whether or not you're reading the same book).

If I describe things about myself in a specific way, the difficulty of finding and arranging a lot of words and figuring out which parts to talk about is balanced out by the fact that I do not have to generalize as much, I don't have to try to figure out how I compare to unknown other people, and I don't have to outright guess what those one or two severity-label-words might mean to whoever I'm communicating with....basically I think I have more chance of actually communicating something and knowing what it is I've communicated.

My IQ puts me in the HFA range, but my life history does not paint a picture of someone who is 'high functioning'. It seems like a 'high functioning' person should have had more success in school, jobs, marriage, and social life (whereas I have utterly failed in all of those categories!)

So yeah, I tend to think of myself as simply 'autistic', and that IQ is not the sole indicator of a person's ability to function in the world.

Yeah, I take a similar non-level approach when trying to explain it to people. I only retreat to them if someone thinks I'm outright ret*d or something (to which they are taken aback when I can do things they can't even fathom doing!)

I usually explain what I find different in my life from other people. For example, how I forget people's faces, or how I'm really blunt or little stuff like that. I try to make it sound not as bad as it might be so that people feel more comfortable around me and don't feel like I'm severely incapable of doing anything, just very different. My experience is different from most people and that's the fundemental way of how I view autism as opposed to a disability, at least in my case. Technically it can be debilitating and extremely frustrating at times but it is all part of the package, and regardless of those debilitations I am capable of living an independent functional life with the right support.

Many other autistic people I've talked to display it that way as well. Most of us only talk about the real issues to ourselves I've noticed, since that tends to make us feel "weak" to others. At least from my perspective. If I appear strong and capable they will give me the support I need and the chances I need to be successful, instead of writing me off because I'm autistic.

I don't like to tell people about my diagnosis at all. Autism isn't even that accurate of a diagnosis for me. I just describe myself as awkward, quirky or nerdy. If I need support I will just tell them specific issues I have, instead of telling them I have a disorder that poorly describes me. The only people I would tell about my diagnosis is police because anxiety and stress messes up my body language. It might make me look suspicious or guilty when I'm innocent.

I think I have low IQ but great logic and insight into things. I would describe it without a label as as sensory annoyances, social immaturity, indifference to people, cognitive issues, selfism.

Right here on Wrong Planet I sometimes find it hard to communicate with people. Their writing is so vague or obtuse to me it's like reading something in a different language.

When people speak in tongues and don't give concrete examples of what they mean I get lost. I try my best to understand everyone. Sometimes it's hard, though.

I think that's part of the problem with functioning labels. There is too much meaning that gets crammed into them (at least when talking to laypeople -- in a research/clinical context it may be very different, I don't know), which leaves too much room for error and misunderstanding. (In my mind trying to attach all possible meanings to "high functioning" is like trying to draw in one dimension -- it's just not possible, so it's ultimately left meaningless beyond its spatial relationship to "low/moderate-functioning" and its numerical definition of "IQ ≥ 70")



Here's an article about IQ not predicting functioning in the world

For me there are parts of my autism that are disabling differences, but I also think explaining specifics in comparison to others is useful. (I wish I were better at doing so, I get very frustrated with it sometimes.)



That's very interesting and paradoxical -- it never would have occured to me but I think I sort of get it. Do you ever have problems with people not giving you support because you appear strong and capable?

*nods*

Every time I try to write a list I get frustrated because issues overlap and I have a hard time thinking generally and stopping myself from adding details....but I've come up with this (my ADHD is mixed in):

Sensory processing disorder (diagnosed before autism...figure it's just part of the autism), language challenges, communication difficulties, executive functioning problems (needs its own list), challenges with complex/abstract information processing (not all types, and it doesn't automatically mean I can't do it -- I may just be slow at it and find it very hard), social differences, hyperactivity.

Last edited by animalcrackers on 01 Mar 2014, 2:09 am, edited 1 time in total.

I often have the same problem...which is ironic because I know my writing can be vague and obtuse. I'm sorry if my post was really vague and obtuse.

At times it's very hard for me to know if the words I use will conjure up the appropriate things when they are translated to meaning in somebody else's head. It's easy for things like "apple" -- even if I see an almost over-ripe, sweet red delicious apple when I read "apple", and you see a tart/sour under-ripe granny smith apple, we're at least thinking about the same type of fruit (I know you may not "see" anything because not everyone thinks visually....I just can't describe this any other way); But when it comes to describing events and ideas and all the invisible stuff, it gets really hard to work the word-to-thought translation in reverse.

If it is somebody I do not like / trust / know, then I will walk away or something else.
If it is not, then I will tell them the specific disability to the specific issue they are asking about, I don't like to say "I have autism" as this opens up a lot of question for the person which I do not want to answer.
An example would be
"Why can't you do this piece of work? (I.E empathising with a character).
Me: "I have no ToM so this type of work confuses me."

confusing...my notcategory is in dreams.

A common comment from people is that I am very intelligent ut struggle with social relationships, also struggle with other stuff as well. I did a course in university on Intellectual disabilities and I know autism is not an intellectual disability but for that the higher the IQ the person had the more likely to have anxiety and depression because they are more aware of how different they are from other people. I think it applies to Autism too, I know for me I've always known I was different but people didn't pay attention to me because I was intelligent but I've always felt out of place and different.

actualy,with respect thats BS.
those of us with recognised intelectual disability are oblivious to our differences and other peoples when around them but that doesnt mean there isnt a significant issue of depression and anxiety amongst intelectualy disabled individuals, a big problem we suffer is being taken advantage of by high functioning individuals-one such example is a user here who am a very long term target of;was severely bullied by them to the point had developed diagnosed severe major depressive disorder and pyschosis,he uses multiple sock puppet accounts via PM in an attempt to groom again but am not a reader/writer of PM unless its to mods.

we are more prone to bullying and abuse as we have less capacity to tell others about it,this creates depression which isnt so easily recognised in us both because of the stereotyping that we are so empty we dont feel anything,and because of our varying understanding and communication/expression difficulties,it shows as severe challenging behavior which unfortunately means thats what it gets wrote off as.

besides reactive depression there is also chemical depression,aspies dont get it any more than us,its just better understood and recognised in HFA as thats where all the studying on it has happened.

Major depression since the mid-90s, multiple manifestations of anxiety disorders over time (although primarily in remission these days, with a little breakthrough occasionally), and while I would be described as HFA, I was pretty oblivious to my differences. What prompted my depression and anxiety was how other people treated me and my inability to function at the levels that seem typical (that is, going to university, holding a job, being able to manage activities of daily living).