Your Thoughts on the Autism Levels

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I feel like it's a mixed bag. For me personally I think I fit in the Level descriptions more than I did with the original Asperger criteria of the DSM4. However I think it's pretty hard to put a person just in one of those groups. I myself would say I'm a mix of 1 and 2 but there are times I might dip into 3. Because different aspects of symptoms can range greatly I think it's likely that many of us would span across the different levels depending on the day, things going on in our life, and other factors. I see them only being useful for giving an idea of how someone may generally be most of the time. I can also see how they may exclude where the former diagnostic material may have been more accurate for them.

People always like to try to categorize things and put them into neat little boxes but very little actually fits neatly in place like that.

^^ That too. I think that it is pretty rare for a person to have just one disorder, but the pros seem baffled by even a combination of two. My AS mom gave me a classical attachment disorder that affects my life as much as the AS does, but they can't really be treated separately.
There have been many schools of therapy based on the work of a successful pioneer that nobody could emulate . I suspect that they were able to invent treatments for many odd combinations, but unable to systematize their method.

I grew up holding the burdens of functioning labels. I was considered moderate to low-functioning (really?!) when I was younger at the time of my diagnosis. It wasn't until roughly my early teen years that I began to reject functioning labels.

Anyway, like others here on WP, I see problems with the "levels" system listed by the DSM-V. How could just one support level possibly fit one autistic person all the time? I could be level 1 most of the time but level 2 when suffering from severe anxiety or depression like I did recently. The levels system also doesn't account for comorbid conditions possibly affecting a person and how that would change one's support level.

(Sorry about the tangent. I wanted to explain a bit of my backstory to make it easier for my words to be understood.)

I think a person needs to study his own brain function. Not so easy, as there is a blind spot in that oneself is in it as it's happening. but it's technically possible, and clues are helpful. There is always someone who knows more and/or has one of the missing pieces. In the short time I've been back I've found some parts that helped fill some of the remaining holes in the puzzle.