Basics: Functioning Labels

If you find yourself in clinical autism spaces often, you might have heard someone describe yourself or your child as high or low functioning. These labels can be confusing for new diagnoses, but there’s no reason to be worried. High and low functioning autism do not exist as diagnoses in any diagnostic manual, but some diagnosticians prefer to use them to describe a person’s needs and abilities. 

These labels have a history of being used to divide the autistic community based on levels of support needs. This is also why the diagnostic label of Asperger’s Syndrome was used for so long, but that is a discussion for another day. Division already runs rampant in the neurodivergent community, so there is no reason to continue that in my opinion.

The preferred language is high/low support needs, as this more accurately describes what functioning labels are trying to portray. By taking a strengths based approach, we focus on what the person does well rather than over pathologizing them. Additionally, people labeled as high functioning feel that this description minimizes their struggles navigating an ableist society. High and low support needs people agree on this change in language as it is more clinically effective. 

There is no need for people with higher and lower support needs to be divided in the autistic community as there is persistent overlap in symptomology regardless of categorization. By joining together as one community and diagnosis, we can share our common experiences and learn from each other more effectively.