Can I be low functioning and people not reakize

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I am just curious Ezra. There have been times in the past when your avatars have reflected your actual physical appearance. I noticed your new avatar. Have you grown your hair long and grown a beard?

Ezra's a really a wizened old man now.

Yes. But my avatar is actually one of my video game characters I created (which was just making preset selections, no actual computer design skills). I was going to cycle through them all as avatars.

As far as my hair and beard goes, this is close to it:

Yes, it is very difficult. And this is a common problem. Star Trekker and I have these conversations all the time because she experiences this also as do other high functioning Autistics that that I know in real life. See, the difference between someone like me and someone like you Ezra is that your condition and your levels of functioning stay pretty constant. They don't really fluctuate dramatically. But for me and like Star Trekker for example, depending on whatever our brains have to process at any given moment, whether it be from sensory stimuli or emotional stimuli or a varying number of other things, we can go from so high functioning that we could be rocket scientists to no functionality at all where we are basically like vegetables. And that can fluctuate so much and so often and we never know how long a level of functioning will last. Like for example, it could change in a couple of minutes from very high to very low or either the high or the low could last for hours or days or one part of me could be functioning at a very high level at the exact same time that a part of me is functioning at a very low level or not functioning at all. Our brains as so susceptible to whatever stimuli they have to process that they can shut either all of down or parts of us down at any given moment.

But when your functionality levels bounce around like ball in a pinball machine, or like in handball or racquetball, people tell you that the only way that could be possible is if you are faking. The most direct bullying I experience is by the ER staff at hospitals because they are convinced that they know everything about Autism. But they really believe that people are either low functioning or high functioning and that you cannot go from one extreme to the other especially in a very short amount of time. So anytime I lose functioning I am bullied and threatened and accused of faking. But when I lose functioning, which happens all the time, and much more so and much more dramatically as I am getting older and now having to deal with the neurological damage of that kind of accumulative bullying, the more it happens, the more I get bullied for it happening. And the more it happens, the more I am labelled a faker and a malingerer and the more that happens, I am denied less and less help. I am now afraid of going into an emergency room for any reason at all now because I immediately get mistreated from being misunderstood when I go.

did you have a severe delay in speech? if you were low functioning you would have.you may not have learned to speak untill maybe 8 or 10 years old.low functioning autism is associated with severe difficulties in speech.

however aspergers and high functioning autism can be a spectrum in and of itself,some aspies are more disabled than others.you may be one of those more disabled aspies

I'm supposedly high-functioning but I have some really major deficits, as well as major strengths. I'm totally unfit for most jobs, including just about anything in an office. But I work and pay my bills--when I remember. Last year, I didn't pay the electricity bill for a year and then had a huge accumulated bill to pay. I can focus for hours on work I love, even forgetting to eat, but I can get incredibly frustrated or confused filling out a relatively simple form. Loud noises and bright lights are like kryptonite for me. I often unintentionally offend people. I can be extremely articulate but am often unable to communicate effectively. The point is, it's not a simple scale but a cluster of traits, and assigning a level is more subjectime than the psychiatric profession would like us to think.

What makes you feel you're "low-functioning," OP?

A person who is not actually "low-functioning" could FEEL like he/she is "low-functioning" very easily. So this question is not a criticism.

A person with a high IQ, say, and yet who cannot cook his/her own dinner and has to depend upon others for so many things, could FEEL low-functioning.

It can be safely assumed that a person who is not toilet-trained, is constantly screaming, and who is constantly self-injurious, is "low-functioning."

Wow, I read one of the best things in life. I am glad I am not the only one alone. I have the same EXACT thing. I feel like one time I can be normal and other times I am just completely dysfunctional. This whole fluctuation thing isn't happening much anymore as I feel like I am completely dysfunctional every time now. I think I've lost some much needed strength in my arsenal. I have been trying to revive some of those times I could function a little normal but it's not happening. I think my autism is getting worst.

I feel for you in that people have no sympathy at all when you need it. I don't want peoples sympathy but it does help to have people understand in times of weakness. People are heartless I guess.

If it helps to understand me better, I know I have some symptoms of adhd, misophonia, trichotillomania (one side of my beard is uneven due to plucking it out), and very severe social anxiety, constant panic attacks, and who knows what else. I am know I am not normal in regards to most people. I do things that I know other people would consider strange. I am constantly stemming and feeling on my eyelashes. It satisfies me to just put brush my fingers along it. I can't explain why.

Yes, I had a more severe form of stuttering. It's has become better and is not bad right now. I certainly feel low functioning. I have no family support in this so thats why on on wrongplanet.

What makes you feel you're "low-functioning," OP?

A person who is not actually "low-functioning" could FEEL like he/she is "low-functioning" very easily. So this question is not a criticism.

A person with a high IQ, say, and yet who cannot cook his/her own dinner and has to depend upon others for so many things, could FEEL low-functioning.

It can be safely assumed that a person who is not toilet-trained, is constantly screaming, and who is constantly self-injurious, is "low-functioning."