#functioning labels tw

[ablednt]

Honestly when it comes to any ND disorder or mental illness I hate anything similar to functioning labels because they were created to measure your worth based on how well you can perform capitalism for nts there was never any compassion or desire to accommodate different levels of needs behind those labels, it's just nt people labeling us like we're a commodity like it's so blatantly dehumanizing its infuriating

[undiagnosedautismfeels]

Tuafw the only things you knew about autism growing up where from Temple Grandin, but now you realize how much she enforces harmful stereotypes/ideas about autistics. And now you’re Mom thinks Temple Grandin is the ultimate guru when it comes to autism, and treats her experience as universal ( when it comes to “functioning autistics”) and her word like law. And you can’t do anything to correct it because “how would you know what it’s like?”

[aut-of-space]

It always hurts me when people call me “high-functioning” because they don’t know about the abuse that turned me to be “high-functioning”.

When I was a child, I was very noticeably autistic. I spoke often and openly about my special needs, only to be answered with some form of “Everybody has/does experience this, so stop being a sissy about it”. And it doesn’t even stop there.

Like many autistic people, I have and always had very specific sensory needs that were hard to satisfy. I was always especially sensitive to touch, light and smells which is why I hated going to see a doctor. Dentists were even worse because I can’t stand someone else putting anything into my mouth (I even hate it when someone else “feeds” me). So of course I was never calm around a doctor or dentist. Which made me a very difficult patient.

My worst experience so far was at a dentist’s office. Due to prior mistreatment by doctors, I was very anxious, even more because the dentist needed to inject me an anesthetic for his treatment and I react quite phobic to needles. So, as an autistic child struggling with sensory issues and social difficulties, I of course started crying and I even tried to escape the room. Which resulted in the dentist locking the door and forcing me back onto his chair. He even threatened me, saying that if I’d move again, he’d strap me to his chair and force me to comply. (he let me go, however this experience alone was enough to further traumatize me in regards to doctors).

And it didn’t even stop there.

Whenever I see one of those videos in which an autistic child sits on the floor while the barber cuts their hair and takes care of the child’s special needs like that, my heart aches. Because I was that child once, only that no one would lay down on the floor with me in order to give me a pleasant experience. Only that I was screamed and shouted at for moving too much. Only that I was forced to endure something that clearly made me super uncomfortable because nobody took my needs and my way of experessing them into consideration.

And so it goes on, through every social interaction I ever experienced. Every time my autistic traits and needs were noticeable, I was treated like someone who just doesn’t know how to behave. I was bullied by my peers and forced to endure sensory hell on every occasion by the adults around me. I could probably write a book about all the times I’ve been mistreated in ways that could’ve been prevented if someone just listened to me, if someone saw the signs and got me diagnosed.

Hell, what angers me most about this is that you could’ve even prevented this by just… Accepting that I experience life like this instead of gaslighting me that my perceptions are false, that I’m just imagining it, that I’m just weak because I can’t deal with everything like everybody else does. Like… There isn’t even a need for diagnosis, there’s just a need for taking kids more seriously and acknowledging that they are human beings capable enough to describe their own experiences how they experience them instead of policing kids on what they feel and think because they’re kids.

Being called “high functioning” hurts because yes, I don’t seem autistic to people. But I don’t because they forced me to. If I didn’t endure all this, if my needs had been answered instead of belittled… Then I wouldn’t be “high functioning”.

And knowing that this issue isn’t even something that allistic people think about… Knowing that they don’t even ask themselves why some autistic people are “high” and some are “low functioning” is even more heartbreaking.

Of course, not every autistic person who’s “low functioning” has been in a save environment. I just think that some people (“high functioning” folks) are just more prone to the effects of the pressure to pass. That “high functioning” autistic people are just the ones who either have a natural behavior which is close to allsitic one or those who’ve internalized the hate against us so much that they can’t help but suppress part of who they are (or both).

[ff2-soda-pop]

Ok so update about the damn book:

Mom is just borrowing it. I asked her “ahaha... What’s it about...?” She told me “oh it’s by some mom writing about her autistic son - you know, like your sister.” And I couldn’t control myself but to make a sound of discomfort and then she yelled at me because “you’re not the adult in the house! I can read whatever I want because IM the boss, not you! And you have no right to complain because you’re not one of those LOW FUNCTIONING people!”

I cant express with words how angry I got.

[agnard]

“““mild autism”“ fuck you, i’m hardcore autistic

[agnard]

someone: oh, you must be high func-

me: 

[autism-asks]

I know I'm autistic, and am getting a referral for a diagnosis soon. I'm beginning to wonder if I might have adhd as well, and possibly mild dyspraxia. Are other developmental disabilities on a spectrum like autism? Is it possible to have adhd but not as severely as someone else?

Most things exist on a spectrum. Basically every diagnosis in existence exists on a spectrum. So yes, but it’s generally still best to avoid functioning labels.

- Os

[autism-asks]

I brought up asd to my psychiatrist, and he said it's possible but I wouldn't have moderate or severe autism. He was very aware that afabs are harder to diagnose, but that I could hold a conversation and eye contact so he wasn't sure. Are these things accurate or are there things I should know if I want to further pursue a diagnosis?

Basically, what he’s saying (I think) is that you’d be diagnosed with “mild” or “high functioning” autism, or depending on whether your country uses the DSM or IDC aspergers. While being able to hold a conversation and maintain eye contact don’t prohibit you from being autistic, depending on the assessor, they are (ableist) reasons the person could decide you’re not autistic as many doctors have a narrow and ableist view of what autism is and “should be”.

(While this blog firmly opposes the use of functioning labels, we do have to be aware of their use within the medical field.)

- Os