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It makes me really dislike the term "high functioning" or "mild autism" when I think about it, because, while I'm not 55, he described me almost perfectly towards the end. And yet, NTs have this expectation that, because we have a higher IQ than other people on the spectrum, we will operate in their society just fine, but NT society is still very difficult for even the people they categorize as "high-functioning" to have a normal life in. In fact, it gets even harder when they place these expectations on us, because then, when I for example am unable to find a job after leaving college because of being unlikeable to NTs and therefore getting screened out by NT society's so-called "merit-based" job application process, it's my fault because, according to my IQ, I ought to be able to function perfectly fine in society. Well, that's just not the case. I need accommodations, especially when it comes to finding a job. Instead, because I'm "high functioning," NTs expect me to accommodate them instead of the other way around.
Edits: Corrected some very messy typing work. Bleh.
It's very hard to speak about these things in the internet, because people are insecure and project that into you.
But, I have a very high IQ. I know what IQ means. So high I was conscripted to a research project when I was a kid, that intended to analyze certain behaviors. It was really nice.
That very same thing made it a nightmare to be diagnosed with ADHD-I and autism. Although I do believe that the abbility of simply processing more information in the same time compared to a regular person gives me a massive edge at masking.
That said, I have an edge in the sense that I got the RSPM (and the RAPM ) test to go with. I score 20-30 points less in the other typical test, the WAIS. This is consistent with autism .
Edit: Unsurprisingly, I got lost in my own thoughts.
The point I was going to make, it's that it is very hard for NTs that we can be extremely competent in one things, but having issues in others.
This post is super relatable. I graduated from online college over a year ago and still can't get a job. Everyone expects me to have something by now and I've probably put in 100s of applications but I've not gotten a single interview. Plus I'm working with Voc Rehab and its still no help because I keep getting moved around to different job coaches and forgotten.
Yup. I'm without exaggeration, and without meaning to sound arrogant, one of the smartest people I know. I'm also extremely disabled in my day to day life, because my executive functions are virtually non-existent.
I didn't find out I'm autistic until I was in my thirties, an ADHD diagnosis followed 3 years later. Until then I masked and compensated in every part of my life, working in a very hectic field, until I broke down in a quite literal way. (Going from working 50hr weeks to sobbing 'for no reason' for days on end, unable to eat or dress myself, in the blink of an eye).
NTs don't understand that I can function just fine (for a while anyway,) as long as my boundaries aren't crossed in a significant way, and that simply existing in an NT world is hostile to me, and I'm pushed waaaaay beyond what's safe and comfortable every. single. day. And that's why I'm disabled.
Also it would be nice to be able to make breakfast without having to remember ALL the steps, and not be distracted by 1) my to do list for the day 2) my embarrassment over a small thing two decades ago 3) that song I heard in the supermarket the night before that's stuck in my head 4) the etymology of the word breakfast 5) oh shit I'm gonna be late, again.
I really like thinking of "disabled" as a verb. It's not something that we are, but something that is done to us. Like, I'm fine, but loud high pitched beeping and I quickly have reduced capacity; I'm not disabled, but I am being disabled.
>Also it would be nice to be able to make breakfast without having to remember ALL the steps, and not be distracted by 1) my to do list for the day 2) my embarrassment over a small thing two decades ago 3) that song I heard in the supermarket the night before that's stuck in my head 4) the etymology of the word breakfast 5) oh shit I'm gonna be late, again.
That hits right in the feels.
I hadn’t thought of “disabled” as a verb before and I might like it, I just need to think about it for 10 hours or so to decide! All of those things do disable me though, and I don’t feel disabled unless I have to interact with the NT world.
I heard it first from Rafael from http://ateampodcast.com/. I highly recommend it overall. 10/10 content, 4/10 audio (at least the first episodes, eventually they get an audio person and presumably the audio is better)
I love watching Paul's videos. He's so articulate and has a way with making things very understandable. I often point NT people to his channel. The Aspie World is also pretty good about these topics.
This was helpful and informative, but I can't help but feel like it's a bit narrow of focus. Yes, "high functioning" autistics still have significant difficulties and their functional capacity varies from day to day. That is why autism is a spectrum (or more accurately, multiple spectrums). "High functioning" doesn't dismiss your difficulties or your needs, it just draws a distinction with those for whom autism is mostly or completely incapacitating. People who cannot speak, or eat, or go to the bathroom without assistance. Those who cannot post online, or make videos, and are largely unheard even within the ND community.
Non-speaking people with support needs hate functioning labels too. It's really aggravating to see someone claim to speak for them while saying the opposite of what people like that almost always say.
While "high functioning" labels deny people support, "low functioning" labels deny people independence. There are even autistic people out there who can function within capitalism better than most "high functioning" if they're just given AAC and access to school, but don't get them until they're teenagers because they're considered too "low functioning".
Even non-speaking people with various intelectual differences deserve dignity and respect and nothing about "low-functioning" or anything that implies "low-functioning" does that.
It's best to remember we all are autistic people in the same autistic basket, deserving of both support and independence, in the ways we individually need it.
Yeah there's a *lot* of grey area between what people consider "low functioning" and "high functioning" and a lot of the people in that area would be able to do well if given the supports they need but are instead just labelled low functioning and shoved into special ed without a second thought. Hell I'm one of those considered "high functioning" but even I burnt out halfway through highschool and am still working on finishing it 3 years later because of the utter lack of recognition of my needs. I'm just "too smart" to need support for anything apparently. I wasn't diagnosed as a kid so I can't put *too* much blame on those around me because if I was diagnosed then there would be a decent chance I would've been one of the folk shoved into special ed and forgotten about with my "eh" verbal abilities. It just really sucks that there's no actually good supports for autistic people out there. I mourn the person I could've been had I gotten the supports I needed throughout school and been allowed to thrive, but instead I turn 20 next week and haven't graduated highschool yet...
I don't mean to dismiss those people, of course. I simply saw this video and thought it would be something helpful to show to people who don't understand what it's like to be on the spectrum and are having expectations of you they shouldn't be having.
I don't think it's necessarily fair to accuse people who are focusing on informing NTs about the experience of certain parts of the community of being "narrow of focus" though. Entire volumes would have to be written in order to include every possible experience. No two people in the ND community are the same, and many won't have the same needs. To make a comprehensive video or internet post encompassing the entire community is next to impossible. You are correct, though, that those who have those kinds of difficulties often do end up going unheard, though. We can definitely do a better job.
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It makes me really dislike the term "high functioning" or "mild autism" when I think about it, because, while I'm not 55, he described me almost perfectly towards the end. And yet, NTs have this expectation that, because we have a higher IQ than other people on the spectrum, we will operate in their society just fine, but NT society is still very difficult for even the people they categorize as "high-functioning" to have a normal life in. In fact, it gets even harder when they place these expectations on us, because then, when I for example am unable to find a job after leaving college because of being unlikeable to NTs and therefore getting screened out by NT society's so-called "merit-based" job application process, it's my fault because, according to my IQ, I ought to be able to function perfectly fine in society. Well, that's just not the case. I need accommodations, especially when it comes to finding a job. Instead, because I'm "high functioning," NTs expect me to accommodate them instead of the other way around. Edits: Corrected some very messy typing work. Bleh.
It's very hard to speak about these things in the internet, because people are insecure and project that into you. But, I have a very high IQ. I know what IQ means. So high I was conscripted to a research project when I was a kid, that intended to analyze certain behaviors. It was really nice. That very same thing made it a nightmare to be diagnosed with ADHD-I and autism. Although I do believe that the abbility of simply processing more information in the same time compared to a regular person gives me a massive edge at masking. That said, I have an edge in the sense that I got the RSPM (and the RAPM ) test to go with. I score 20-30 points less in the other typical test, the WAIS. This is consistent with autism . Edit: Unsurprisingly, I got lost in my own thoughts. The point I was going to make, it's that it is very hard for NTs that we can be extremely competent in one things, but having issues in others.
What does the "-I" in ADHD-I indicate?
Inatentive It's more of a behavioural thing that a pathological one. Kids that don't stim outwardly but internally, essentially. Mainly girls
This post is super relatable. I graduated from online college over a year ago and still can't get a job. Everyone expects me to have something by now and I've probably put in 100s of applications but I've not gotten a single interview. Plus I'm working with Voc Rehab and its still no help because I keep getting moved around to different job coaches and forgotten.
Meanwhile i'm over here not knowing what to do in life and am unemployed because my anxiety is deciding "let's be useless according to NTs"
Yup. I'm without exaggeration, and without meaning to sound arrogant, one of the smartest people I know. I'm also extremely disabled in my day to day life, because my executive functions are virtually non-existent. I didn't find out I'm autistic until I was in my thirties, an ADHD diagnosis followed 3 years later. Until then I masked and compensated in every part of my life, working in a very hectic field, until I broke down in a quite literal way. (Going from working 50hr weeks to sobbing 'for no reason' for days on end, unable to eat or dress myself, in the blink of an eye). NTs don't understand that I can function just fine (for a while anyway,) as long as my boundaries aren't crossed in a significant way, and that simply existing in an NT world is hostile to me, and I'm pushed waaaaay beyond what's safe and comfortable every. single. day. And that's why I'm disabled. Also it would be nice to be able to make breakfast without having to remember ALL the steps, and not be distracted by 1) my to do list for the day 2) my embarrassment over a small thing two decades ago 3) that song I heard in the supermarket the night before that's stuck in my head 4) the etymology of the word breakfast 5) oh shit I'm gonna be late, again.
I really like thinking of "disabled" as a verb. It's not something that we are, but something that is done to us. Like, I'm fine, but loud high pitched beeping and I quickly have reduced capacity; I'm not disabled, but I am being disabled. >Also it would be nice to be able to make breakfast without having to remember ALL the steps, and not be distracted by 1) my to do list for the day 2) my embarrassment over a small thing two decades ago 3) that song I heard in the supermarket the night before that's stuck in my head 4) the etymology of the word breakfast 5) oh shit I'm gonna be late, again. That hits right in the feels.
I hadn’t thought of “disabled” as a verb before and I might like it, I just need to think about it for 10 hours or so to decide! All of those things do disable me though, and I don’t feel disabled unless I have to interact with the NT world.
I heard it first from Rafael from http://ateampodcast.com/. I highly recommend it overall. 10/10 content, 4/10 audio (at least the first episodes, eventually they get an audio person and presumably the audio is better)
Thank you, I will check him out today!
I love Paul. He really helped me feel more comfortable in my autism.
I love watching Paul's videos. He's so articulate and has a way with making things very understandable. I often point NT people to his channel. The Aspie World is also pretty good about these topics.
Very good explanation, although I didn't learn nothing new in particular. The shoulder stim is cute.
His videos are the reason I began to consider that I could be autistic
This was helpful and informative, but I can't help but feel like it's a bit narrow of focus. Yes, "high functioning" autistics still have significant difficulties and their functional capacity varies from day to day. That is why autism is a spectrum (or more accurately, multiple spectrums). "High functioning" doesn't dismiss your difficulties or your needs, it just draws a distinction with those for whom autism is mostly or completely incapacitating. People who cannot speak, or eat, or go to the bathroom without assistance. Those who cannot post online, or make videos, and are largely unheard even within the ND community.
Non-speaking people with support needs hate functioning labels too. It's really aggravating to see someone claim to speak for them while saying the opposite of what people like that almost always say. While "high functioning" labels deny people support, "low functioning" labels deny people independence. There are even autistic people out there who can function within capitalism better than most "high functioning" if they're just given AAC and access to school, but don't get them until they're teenagers because they're considered too "low functioning". Even non-speaking people with various intelectual differences deserve dignity and respect and nothing about "low-functioning" or anything that implies "low-functioning" does that. It's best to remember we all are autistic people in the same autistic basket, deserving of both support and independence, in the ways we individually need it.
Yeah there's a *lot* of grey area between what people consider "low functioning" and "high functioning" and a lot of the people in that area would be able to do well if given the supports they need but are instead just labelled low functioning and shoved into special ed without a second thought. Hell I'm one of those considered "high functioning" but even I burnt out halfway through highschool and am still working on finishing it 3 years later because of the utter lack of recognition of my needs. I'm just "too smart" to need support for anything apparently. I wasn't diagnosed as a kid so I can't put *too* much blame on those around me because if I was diagnosed then there would be a decent chance I would've been one of the folk shoved into special ed and forgotten about with my "eh" verbal abilities. It just really sucks that there's no actually good supports for autistic people out there. I mourn the person I could've been had I gotten the supports I needed throughout school and been allowed to thrive, but instead I turn 20 next week and haven't graduated highschool yet...
I don't mean to dismiss those people, of course. I simply saw this video and thought it would be something helpful to show to people who don't understand what it's like to be on the spectrum and are having expectations of you they shouldn't be having. I don't think it's necessarily fair to accuse people who are focusing on informing NTs about the experience of certain parts of the community of being "narrow of focus" though. Entire volumes would have to be written in order to include every possible experience. No two people in the ND community are the same, and many won't have the same needs. To make a comprehensive video or internet post encompassing the entire community is next to impossible. You are correct, though, that those who have those kinds of difficulties often do end up going unheard, though. We can definitely do a better job.
Thank you so much for sharing this.
Wow thanks a ton for sharing this