More Problems With Functioning Labels by Amy Sequenzia
Life changes and so do we. And if some still cannot care for themselves, like me, this is not a reason to dismiss us and reduce us to a pointless functioning label. Who knows in which body the next brilliant brain resides, if opportunities are not equal?
Every now and then my autistic friends and I have to explain why functioning labels are not helpful, why it works against acceptance, why it is something created by non-disabled people who knew very little about how autistic brains work, who saw autistics as lesser people, and who saw the need to grade us in order to apply their wrong assumptions in an attempt to “fix” us. READ MORE
Life changes and so do we. And if some still cannot care for themselves, like me, this is not a reason to dismiss us and reduce us to a pointless functioning label. Who knows in which body the next brilliant brain resides, if opportunities are not equal?
Every now and then my autistic friends and I have to explain why functioning labels are not helpful, why it works against acceptance, why it is something created by non-disabled people who knew very little about how autistic brains work, who saw autistics as lesser people, and who saw the need to grade us in order to apply their wrong assumptions in an attempt to “fix” us. READ MORE
The Battle by Emma's Hope Book
“It’s all well and good for higher functioning people who have autism to talk about how unique and precious their lives are and how important it is for everyone to accept their differences, but for families who are dealing with low functioning individuals, this is not their experience. Those families are in an ongoing battle.”
The above is a version of a comment I’ve read countless times over the years.
Aside from the curious conflation of the first part of the sentence discussing Autistic people’s sense of themselves, to the last part, which discusses the family’s point of view, as though the “low functioning” individual is incapable of having a point of view, there is no point arguing with anyone about their lived experience. However, do not make your experience mine. READ MORE
“It’s all well and good for higher functioning people who have autism to talk about how unique and precious their lives are and how important it is for everyone to accept their differences, but for families who are dealing with low functioning individuals, this is not their experience. Those families are in an ongoing battle.”
The above is a version of a comment I’ve read countless times over the years.
Aside from the curious conflation of the first part of the sentence discussing Autistic people’s sense of themselves, to the last part, which discusses the family’s point of view, as though the “low functioning” individual is incapable of having a point of view, there is no point arguing with anyone about their lived experience. However, do not make your experience mine. READ MORE
Why This “High-Functioning” Autistic Really Wishes You’d Shut Up About High-Functioning Autistics by Autistic Academic
I really, really hate functioning labels.
My husband, who is and remains my greatest NT advocate, still uses them when talking about me to new acquaintances, which he does whenever relevant on the theory that parents and teachers (with whom he interacts frequently, being a teacher) need to know that autistic people can and do grow up to have real adult lives and “normal people” in those lives who think their autistic friend is frabjulous. In the introduction to Autism and Representation, Mark Osteen postulates that the labels “high-functioning” and “low-functioning” are useful if they help us avoid allowing “high-functioning” voices to take over the discourse and effectively shut up the very “low-functioning” people they claim to represent.*
But I hate functioning labels. READ MORE
I really, really hate functioning labels.
My husband, who is and remains my greatest NT advocate, still uses them when talking about me to new acquaintances, which he does whenever relevant on the theory that parents and teachers (with whom he interacts frequently, being a teacher) need to know that autistic people can and do grow up to have real adult lives and “normal people” in those lives who think their autistic friend is frabjulous. In the introduction to Autism and Representation, Mark Osteen postulates that the labels “high-functioning” and “low-functioning” are useful if they help us avoid allowing “high-functioning” voices to take over the discourse and effectively shut up the very “low-functioning” people they claim to represent.*
But I hate functioning labels. READ MORE
