Do you think high functioning/aspies do better than LFA

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I read a study that says those with higher functioning forms of autism do no better than those with more severe forms of autism in terms of independence and history of romantic relationships. http://sfari.org/news-and-opinion/news/2011/people-with-milder-forms-of-autism-struggle-as-adults


I have doubts about the study's conclusion that high functioning ASD has the same prognosis as lower functioning ASD. First of all , the study used the miscellaneous group PDD-NOS as the high functioning group (not Aspergers or HFA) and Autistic disorder (DSM IV) as a proxy for the lower functioning group. This seems like a bad comparison since PDD-NOS is often worse than HFA or Asperger's , and HFA would be included in the autistic group. PDD-NOS includes a lot of people who are intellectually disabled but don't have enough autistic traits to be be classified as having autistic disorder. I think the most you could conclude from this study is that moderate autism has similar prognosis as severe autism in terms of ability to become independent and develop long term relationships.

What are your thoughts?

Yeah, they were comparing PDD NOS to autistic disorder, as if PDD NOS actually meant something beyond 'you're somewhere on the spectrum but I don't know where'.

This one study from norway is not necessarily representative.
96% of study participants had gotten disability pension by age 22.
That is not much motivation to work to survive independently.

Yeah that makes it seem really inaccurate given that a substantial percentage of HFA/Aspergers are in college at that age and not on disability.

Motivation? What do you mean? Are you implying they could have worked if the disability pension wasn't available?

Because I seriously doubt that. Just looking at this forum, I've seen plenty of homeless autistics. If they could support themselves and not end up homeless, I'm sure they would.