Higher Functioning Aspies and Lower Functioning Aspies

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Do you think Aspies or HFAs can be further subdivided into higher functioning HFAs or Aspies and lower functioning HFAs or Aspies? And would a higher functioning Aspie be almost indistinguishable from an NT?

There are definitely these distinctions even amongst ourselves.

I don't think that a higher functioning AS person would really be indistinguishable. But maybe other factors (being rich, being well respected in your field, etc) would give an excuse and knock you into the eccentricity tree, where the AS things are more acceptable.

seems to me like comparing high and low functioning aspies is like comparing intellegent and average NT. Yea there is a differance but nothing unusual

I consider myself to be a low-functioning aspie.

Do you consider me to be a lower functioning aspie, or a higher functioning aspie?

Only your hairdresser knows for sure.

I consider my self high functioning. I think there's a big difference between me and aspies who can't read social cues and don't know what's appropriate - it changes a person's world completely. I can pass for NT very easily, and I understand all social cues in general, and I always know when I've behaved inappropriately - its just hard to behave appropriately a lot. It must be a totally different world for people who cant read faces etc....an entirely different scene to navigate.

You appear stereotypical to me, i.e., a definite "aspie".

I don't really think there's much difference in those who meet the diagnostic criteria for Asperger's; people have a different symptom morphology which can affect their functioning in work and study, but all will show a similar level of impairment in socialization.

I don't like categories of any kind but they are what they are. I'm a high functioning aspie I suppose, and I base that on the fact that I can 'pass' as just an NT with some oddities. Most people think I'm funny or a little weird but I have learned what to say and how to cover things pretty well through the years. The problem internally is if I have to keep up that mask for very long I tend to get sick. I think of it like my forcefield and it just drains all the energy out of the engine in record time and leaves me depleted.

I have two Aspie sons. The difference is one is VERY outgoing and comical and personable (but needs his downtime and gets crazed if he's pushed too far) and very smart and able to function in the world. He holds down a complicated job with alot of responsibility and manages his money pretty well. I say pretty well because that's a bit of a flaw, plus he has never yet lived totally alone - he's 28. Always has roommates, usually 2 or 3 (up to 6) that all share a place. He gets along very well with groups but not so much one on one. He manages time very well and is very detail oriented in most things.

The other one is 24 and back living at home. He is awful with money and time. Just cannot grasp the concept of either. As he gets older he's doing better, but I have feared all of his life that he will never be able to live on his own. He's been working a job now for a few weeks, so far so good. It requires the most responsibility he's ever had - opening a small store and many times closing it also. He does all of the checklist for each and does a very good job. It pays low but it's very important for his self esteem that he's doing this well. He lived with a girlfriend for a few years who propped him up, covered for him and did alot. That's the closest he's been to living on his own and he couldn't have done that much without her. He's never owned a car or a cell phone or much more than the clothes on his back (that I buy him).

I see the first son as being much higher functioning and fear for the younger son. So I do believe there are differences. None of us have the same talents or the same weaknesses and some of us find our way under the radar in the world easier than others.

Time, place and other circumstances also make the person. In our case, having all the necessary resources would make us more functioning. if an aspie has a high IQ but lives in poor conditions say, in a third world country and food is hard to get, then what can we expect? but if this aspie is given the appropiate education and support, I see a different outcome.

I reckon we all have our strengths and weaknesses....

(granted, i might not even be an aspie...poss. PDD-NOS or something else...but assuming I am an aspie....)

I might be more "socially functional" than some others...in the sense that I have been able to mantain (romantic (more or less))relationships since I was a teenager...though not many successful close platonic friendships...and I have a job where I have to frequently interract with others and i generally do it well, although there have been times when I have freezed up..or even melted down in the midst of certain types of interractions.
Things like hyper-sensitivity and not always being able to recognise people can cause me alot of social stress....

um...I do really badly (jobwise) in situations that are not under my own control where the instructions/structure are not very well-defined....also I do really have a difficult time reading the subtexts of things....which can mess with me in those types of jobs....
Outside of the Super Happy Fun box, I generally find it difficult to hold down decent jobs..and wind up working jobs generally held by people who are a whole lot younger than me...

Usually I have always been at least somewhat dependant on other people.....even during times when I tried to live alone and pay all my own bills etc...etc..etc...

I did not do very well in school...I don't drive a car.....have a hard time managing money.....organizing things....understanding and interracting with alot of the world (and other people).....acting like an adult...etc..etc..ect...I am basicly like a 32 year old 16- year old...

.....and though I have an "above average" IQ...I have frequently been teased for being "The dumb one"...among my more intellectual peers...(like when I was in G/T classes at school).......I am definitely more of a right-brained "visionary" sort of person...so in certain other ways I am less intelligent and i have dyscalulea....

Um...I have strengths and weaknesses in my major interests....which are definitely more creative and less analytically based...

...Likesay...I looove to play the ukulele and i take my uke with me everywhere I go, but I am not the greatest instrumentalist....(i like to blame this partially on shoddy motor skills)...but aside from raw talent and "feel", I don't have a very developed "musical" mind.....compared to my NT musician peers...
...and also with the singing I do it is all about just confidance and "feel" anyway...and that is my main strength as a musician...
Also it takes me an absurd amount of time to memorise songs...usually.....which really sucks..because I can have effectively memorised a song and then suddenly forget it...it is something I have always needed to work on...

and graphic design......Although, throughout my life I have designed dozens of flyers and posters for various events...(possibly hundreds)...and even inadvertantly wound up having one mass-produced on a Levi's shirt....I am rigidly confined to my particular method, which is not the most effective....cut and paste...hand-traced fonts.....photocopy....no computers......whereas maybe a more NT person with a drive in my particular directions would feel more motivated towards innovating over time....

I am straying from the point....I am a medium-functioning non-neurotypical person.

I would say im a high functioning aspie.

In terms of academic achievement, I consider myself high-functioning. In social areas, I am probably about medium functioning.

I'd say I'm High-Functioning (HF) Aspie.

This would probably include what Tex-Tim (?) calls "Borderline AS/NT".

A book (Asperger's Syndrome for Adults?) describes people with HF-AS. They have the intelligence to compensate for their social difficulties, but may drop this front in privacy, such as home. They may also depend on others where their form of AS calls for it, and if these other people do not understand AS the behaviour can seem bewildering or they may feel used.

I've got an IQ of...a real high number and it does nothing to allow me to alleviate my social impairment. It's all about the level of impairment. (Adults can improve as they get older, they don't know the reason for this, postulations aside.)

Anyway, if you meet the criteria for Asperger's, you're going to have severe impairment in social interaction no matter what.