There is a lot of public confusion
High functioning means higher functioning compared to other autistic people with the baseline being severely autistic/ ID
Some NTs think high functioning means superpower or literally a higher functioning human obviously it does not.
The problem this author doesn’t take into account is you need labels so those who need to know can easily make quick appropriate decisions.
If a building is on fire and someone says to the fireman there is a wheelchair user on the top floor they know exactly what needs to be done.
If there’s a 3am call to cops about a severely autistic person having a meltdown in the street the cop knows that person will likely be unarmed and should be dealt with in a particular way.
Nobody has time to go through google search to find out what something is then guess because political correctness prevents certain realities being revealed.
The public just need a label it’s as simple as that.
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"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends upon the unreasonable man."
- George Bernie Shaw