#support levels

[bagaluten-sys]

Autism can present in different ways in OSDD-1 btw. I'm not a fan of the chart below and I'm a suspected system, but this is round about Host vs Little Symptomholder:

[crazycatsiren]

Low support needs =/= no support needs. And support needs can change and fluctuate, depending on environment, living situation, mental/physical illnesses, other disabilities (mental/physical), day to day activities.

[willtheweirdrat]

Man, I really wish support levels had an actual description. They're just so vague I can never figure out what they mean. It gets even funnier when you remember that many autistic people have a hard time understanding vague things and often need more detailed explanations.

[defectivegembrain]

okay so like if support levels are gonna be such a Thing in the autistic community can we at least remember that:

Not everyone likes or agrees with them, and they are no more acceptable to force on others than any other label

Not everyone knows how to apply them to themselves, as that requires specific self knowledge or someone you trust to judge it for you, and can be vague, complicated, and subject to change

High support is not synonymous with nonverbal or intellectually disabled, and none of those things mean "people you should pity/rhetorical point for showing how terrible autism is"

Low support doesn't mean no support or that you're not really disabled, and also doesn't mean "people who should shut up about autism"

Mid support actually exists and also means none of those things

It's very unlikely that you can tell what exactly someone's needs are by just looking at tumblr posts, and very rude to assume

[mischiefmanifold]

who is allowed to call themselves mid or high or low support and who dictates and defines that /gen nm

Hello!

I can’t tell you what your support level is, usually that’s determined based on the way your autistic traits affect your functioning level (such as being able to live alone, drive yourself places, make your own food, use the bathroom by yourself, etc.).

Someone defined as a low support needs autistic person would generally be able to live alone, has little to no difficulty with IADLS and BADLS, and generally doesn’t need lots of support in daily life.

A medium support needs autistic person may be able to live mostly on their own, or they may be unable to live completely independent(ly?), they may struggle with some BADLS and IADLS, and will need more support than a low support needs person.

A high support needs autistic person is usually unable to live on their own, may struggle with many or all IADLS/BADLS, and will require quite a lot of support.

[Note that these are my interpretations of what I’ve read online and my own experiences as a medium needs autistic person. This is not an exhaustive description of how certain support needs will present in people, please do not take it as such. If I have gotten any information incorrect, please feel free to politely correct me.]

[crippleculture]

I'm trying to figure out which support level I'm in because I'm obsessed with categorizing myself and I'm not sure if I'm low or medium support, I can do my activities of daily living by myself but I need reminders to do them, I'm verbal, I can't cook using the stove and can only use the oven sometimes so if mom isn't here to cook for me I just live off microwaved food, I don't think I could learn to drive, I could maybe live independently theoretically but it'd just be me living off microwave or simple no-cook foods and I wouldn't be able to go anywhere by myself and I don't think I can handle public transport... so like.... which level do you think I'd be at

[autistickeely]

I’m not very immersed in the autism community, and I was wondering if you could help me with some questions? I’ve seen that you and many others don’t like the terms “high or low functioning,” and I was curious what terms I could use that wouldn’t be bad or offensive when talking about different severities. My dream is to become a therapist, and I want to respect my patients as much as I can! I’m super sorry if this is a bad question afhdgd I’m trying to learn 💕💕

Hiya! I wouldn’t say there’s different severities. It’s impossible to put autistic people into catagories because we all experience things differently. For example someone might have really bad sensory issues but be able to socialize well and someone might really struggle with socializing but not have many sensory issues etc. It’s not accurate to have a line with high functioning on one end and low functioning on the other, the autistic spectrum looks more like this:

Instead of using functioning labels you could use support levels instead. @butterflyinthewell created this idea and I think it’s so much better than functioning labels. I definitely suggest reading her post here about it!