Autism without disability

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Thank you to everyone for your explanations. I do understand that autism can be "invisible" in some people, and that their impairments can be mild enough so as not to make their functioning level sub-standard, in spite of the increased effort they have put in to sustain it. Or they might be affected by autism in profound ways that do not affect their ability to function in daily life because of certain strengths and naturally accommodating environments. These are examples of autism that I am familiar with, but it's not their autism that I'm questioning. My question is about the diagnosis of ASD (or its equivalent) - clinical autism.

The reason why I've been mulling over this topic is because I'm going through an autism assessment right now. The testing, as far as I've gone, has been entirely based on absolute ability. I have not been asked how hard it is for me to achieve something; I've been asked whether I can. This seemed to confirm my earlier impression that autism diagnoses were an indication of clinical impairment. I am confused as to how a person who manages to succeed in most areas of neurological function can receive a diagnosis if the diagnostic criteria demands this level of disorder.

Thank you for starting this thread.

These considerations were very relevant in my own investigations as to whether and later where I was on the Autism spectrum. After the first suspicions and the strong hints in the results when I used some accepted screening tools they were some of the reasons I waited two years before making the decision to seek an assessment and the type of assessment I eventually underwent.

I did not feel disabled when I considered those suspicions during those two years. I was, after all, in work and as a result of that I was housed. I had even acquired someone who counts as a Very close friend indeed in my adult life. I had even had one or two flings, and ended up in a (not especially standard) long distance arrangement which seemed to meet a god selection of the needs and desires of all the parties.

However, I did have to note I did not follow what seemed to be a standard way off life. I did most of my stuff on my own. My best holidays were always alone and self contained in the bicycle saddle with my tent and youth hostel membership card, or with others towards a purpose such as a working party. Couldn't really enjoy going to an urban pub, loud club, no way, initiate in a social unstructured situation, big difficulty,... and all the clues kept coming to light as I did my reflection and research. Going into lots of detail, too much detail, well I can already see that tendency coming out as I type an entry into this very thread.

ASPartOfMe's brief reference to the Social Model of disability is certainly useful for my own considerations. The parts of the autistic profile which give a disposition to a very deep interest in a subject, memorising of information, focus and so forth fitted with the environment I was in during my education, and gave me the qualifications which landed me in an area of work where they helped me survive the effects of mistakes in the social, communication or executive function fields. From that being employed and thus having independence allowed me to avoid the situations which would have pressed the weak spots in that profile.

There is a lot of gratitude and remembering "There but for good fortune" in my thinking.

I did like seeing someone else who would like an expansion of the criteria to include a "Severity 0" At this point in time the System made up of me and my traits, where I work and the requirements of the job and the way my abilities fit those does not result in me being impaired in any obvious way, but the Knowledge that my profile is none the less Autistic enables me to refine that good fit further. It backs my resolve to avoid situations which press on weaknesses in the profile where there is no necessity to be involved with the situations. Where there is a good reason to go into such a situation I can make better preparations, and no longer be unduly concerned when I come away exhausted. If DSM6 and ICD12 had severity levels 0 to 3 with levels 1 to 3 being those which were the ones opening the way to statutory or insurance based financial benefits and all levels being accepted as grounds for "Reasonable Workplace Adjustments" then I would be a very happy person indeed.

Relationships are very important to many people. The dating business is around $2 billion a year. Yet disability evaluations typically consider just your abilities to perform the activities of daily life and your ability to hold a job. Relationships are outside the scope of disability evaluations.

I checked out a book called Awkward: The Science of why we're socially awkward and why That's Awesome.


In the book, the person described it and it sounded a lot like autism because they have the same symptoms so I believe socially awkward people do have autism symptoms too. It also impacts their life, their childhood, their self esteem, anxiety, depression, and people can also tell they are different. But their impairments are not severe enough for them to be actual impairments despite the challenges it gives them and they also have to work harder in social situations.


I am sure these people can still get diagnosed if they go to the right doctor and it's up to the person if they want to be autistic or not if you know what I mean.

The author of that book also scored in the late 20's on the AQ test which is a borderline score for ASD and he did not believe he is autistic so therefore he makes the choice to not get assessed for it despite the struggles his social awkwardness gave him and the special interests he had and strong ones. So he found a way to work around his struggles and compensate. I know he would not diagnose everyone as autistic despite their struggles. He would just say you are just socially awkward and that is okay. You are still normal. So you would have to go see another doctor who will give you the diagnoses.

https://www.carautismroadmap.org/medica ... -with-asd/
Parents are often surprised to learn that a medical diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) does not automatically entitle a student to special education services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Eligibility for special education services is based, rather, on an educational determination of a disability, which includes meeting not just the criteria for a specific disability (such as autism), but also finding that a student is in need of special services.