What do you think of functioning labels?

[Kit]

Sometimes I don't like them because they are misleading and it can make people expect more out of you when you are mild. Like lets say you have borderline AS and you take something literal. An aspie who is more effected by it than you could go "You should know this because I'm more aspie than you and I wouldn't have taken that literal."

It's bad enough us aspies don't get as much help as auties because they figure since we are so high functioning, we don't need as much help because we are closer to normal and more milder.

Okay so someone can have severe AS and not have difficulty with metaphors while someone with mild AS can. I have met some other aspies online who seem to read people better than I can and understand them better. Every aspie is different and they might be effected more in one area than another aspie even though that aspie is more effected by their condition than that aspie. Like doctors say, it's a spectrum.

 

[Chris]

Yeah, I can see how it can be 'murky'. How exactly do doctors determine who is severe and who is mild? What factors do they base it on? (Communication skills, social understanding, IQ etc?)

 

[Kit]

I heard they base it on how much of the criteria you meet. Some base it on how many comorbid conditions you have with it such as learning difficulties, hyperliexia, anxiety, sensory issues, OCD. Some base it on how many friends you had, if you held down a job or not, if you ever been married or in a relationship, rather you finished college or even went, rather you finished high school or not. I just find it all inaccurate. I never went to college really for a degree and if it weren't for getting extra help in school, I would have never finished. I don't think I should be more aspie due to my learning difficulties.

 

[Calvert]

I don't think I was ever told if I was mild, medium or severe. They just said it was Aspergers. There are some things I can do better than others too. Like some eye-contact, some body language, public places etc but then that's countered by the things I cant do such as conversation, unfamiliar places, socialising and so-on. Aspergers is still Aspergers regardless of level.   

 

[BruceCM_Aspergic]

There'd be some point to saying 'mild', 'medium', 'severe', etc, if it was fairly clear what was meant. In many ways, my AS is 'mild', in that I don't have the sensory issues, etc. Yet it may be that I struggle more with other things. Of course, each of up is still am individual, so it all varies!

 

[Wayne]

We all want labels, a shorthand way of saying "this person will need a lot of help" or "that person can get by without a lot of help". After all, there's only so much help to go around.

And if you're thinking of working closely with someone or living with them, you want a label that will answer the question "will this person end up helping me as much as I help him?" or "will he be a partner or an overgrown child overall?" Too bad we don't actually have labels that will answer this for us.

 

[superboyian]

I don't personally have any clue what I was but I know I was officially diagnosed with someone with autism... although I had been told by the teacher last year that I have aspergers and it was in the reports.. maybe I didn't know about it?

But I wouldn't think I have aspergers because I was a late speaker... and I don't seem to know any person with aspergers who spoke at a very late age....

But then I thought to myself, i'm most likely to be High-Functioning then or just autistic... I don't know? They fairly seem the same to most people.

 

[Kit]

I spoke late and I have AS.

 

[mikkyh]

I don't know WHAT severity of AS I have. And to be fair I don't really care (YEY rhyme!)

There doesn't seem to be much difference, though, between someone with Mild AS and Severe AS.

 

[superboyian]

I spoke late and I have AS.

Me too... and in my report papers, I was told that I have Aspergers Syndrome.... :wtf: but like I find that confusing because I have more of a behaviour of a person who has HFA.

 

[Ana54]

A lot of people missed the AS altogether and looked at my symptoms, and decided I was bipolar, or schizoaffective, or depressed, or anxious, or even disordered in my personality. For some reason I preferred those diagnoses to AS because they told people that I was not stupid but still needed help.

 

[deathgrip]

It's bad enough us aspies don't get as much help as auties because they figure since we are so high functioning, we don't need as much help because we are closer to normal and more milder.

This is exactly why they are harmful.

 

[Progster]

I was told during my diagnostic interview that I had mild Asperger's, but when the report came, it said "moderate". I don't know what he based his conclusions on - my interaction during the interview, or the difficulties I was having around the time of the interview perhaps, but I was surprised, because I met many of the milestones in life and had lead a fairly independent life up to that point. However, my life has been shaped very much by my special interests.

 

[the_tortoise]

Functioning labels confuse me because they only have meaning relative to each other....and everyone has different ideas about what each one means.