What's wrong with saying "mild" or "severe" autism?

[the_tortoise]

@UFO sorry, I changed my wording to "haven't encountered a single person" to try to leave room for the fact that I don't know what every single person on here knows or accepts, it hasn't come up in anywhere near all dicussions. Also I may misunderstand people.

My apologies to you and anyone else I have offended by over-generalizing and presuming and even in my edited words being unclear.

@Terpsichore , there is nothing wrong with those words. Some of us get touchy when someone calls themselves "mild" and then proceeds to say anyone who is not "mild" or ASD 1,1 is x,y,z things they may or may not be...or makes it seem like they are asserting that having certain difficulties (e.g. inability to speak, or severe self-injurious meltdowns - and I don't mean deliberately/intentionally self-injurious as if the person is thinking clearly about and intentionally, with any amount of self-control or deliberateness, doing any self-injurious action or with any self-control or normally-aware/thinking-deliberateness anything at all they are doing in said meltdown, in fact) or doing certain things (e.g. constant rocking, hand-flapping, or any self-regulating behaviors that look truly bizarre to most other people including fellow ASDers who cannot understand them or why they are happening) means a person cannot ever have any abilities a "mild" autistic has and/or also means they must have a whole assortment of other behaviours or difficulties that some but not all more "severe" autistic people have.

Nothing wrong with describing your autism as it is for you, you're entitled to do that and it should be respected by others,

One issue that can become problematic and offensive is when a person uses other people's autism as a comparative justification for their use of whatever label like "mild" and in doing so completely erases and misrepresents the lived reality of other autistic people's experiences,

Beyond that issue I don't think there is any valid reason for anyone to take issue with the words you use to describe yourself -- they don't know you like you know yourself and they don't live your life. It is your choice how to self-identify, not theirs.

 

[UFO]

@the_tortoise No offense taken. Or seen, as to me it was a justified note of oversight. Thought I did notice a frustration of not mentioning of such obvious thing, but I don't experience such outbursts as offensive, just a form of communication like emphasizing an important point (thought when I do that, it too often bites back, so I understand the reason for your apology). Likewise, I was merely saying that there is at least one person who knows that, as an extra information to you about the users of this forum.

 

[the_tortoise]

@the_tortoise No offense taken. Or seen, as to me it was a justified note of oversight. Thought I did notice a frustration of not mentioning of such obvious thing, but I don't experience such outbursts as offensive, just a form of communication like emphasizing an important point (thought when I do that, it too often bites back, so I understand the reason for your apology). Likewise, I was merely saying that there is at least one person who knows that, as an extra information to you about the users of this forum.

Understood. Thanks for the follow-up, the explanation/clarification of your perspective and statement of shared understanding - always appreciated

 

[UFO]

I began to gather information about autism just about two years ago,

Dammit... Not two years, few years. About two years ago I joined the forums.

I really hate making small mistakes like that: I was going to take a walk and do some grocery shopping, but had to return home just to write this correction

 

[Crossbreed]

It continually boggles my mind and frustrates me to no end that I have not encountered a single person on this website who actually knows this -- of who is actually willing to accept is and can conceptually work with this reality.

Using the "Legal Guardian vs. Representative Payee vs. having neither" standard, there is no way you can have part of one and part of another. Support numbers are a cumulative score.

If your higher functioning features can compensate for your lower ones, your are given a lower overall support number. If they cannot (or do not), a higher one.

 

[Terpsichore]

Thank you all for your replies!

I was really surprised that so many of you see nothing wrong with the terms mild/severe! I had seen it condemned by several online creators. But I suppose such condemnations are simply good for the algorithms

A lot of people who spoke against the mild/severe labels mostly were speaking about being labelled by others, which I agree. Having a label forced upon you can be unpleasant in any situation, but especially a situation like autism where the labeller has no idea how it feels from the inside. I was specifically meaning when people apply these labels to themselves

 

[Matthias]

No, I never do anything by halves.

I was never really able to hide my differences although I don't have any obvious stims, I learnt early on that I might as well just be myself because trying to be like everyone else doesn't work. And I think that's one of the things people like about me, strength of character, I'm happy to be myself and I don't care too much about what other people think.

A couple of months back a shop owner said I looked like an old hippy. I just smiled and said Yes. Then he was curious about where I was from and we talked for about half an hour.

I had to use AI to figure out what you meant by not doing anything by halves. I sort of understand you're saying you're fully autistic (not just half autistic) but I don't think severity level implies someone isn't fully autistic. It's mostly about the level of support a person needs.

 

[Matthias]

Here's what I found when I looked up what autism severity levels mean:

Level 1/mild - Requires support
Level 2/moderate - Requires substantial support
Level 3/severe - Requires very substantial support
Doesn't require support = has autistic traits but doesn't have a disorder (ASD)

The examples I found showed that people with level 1/mild autism have difficulty initiating and maintaining conversations or relationships without support (such as an aide to help you find a friend or teach you how to respond to someone) while level 3 are often only able to respond to others in highly restricted ways (such as mindlessly repeating phrases they've heard)

 

[Terpsichore]

I had to use AI to figure out what you meant by not doing anything by halves. I sort of understand you're saying you're fully autistic (not just half autistic) but I don't think severity level implies someone isn't fully autistic. It's mostly about the level of support a person needs.

Where I'm from, "not doing anything by halves" is an idiom meaning everything you do is either excellent or sub-par (or sometimes refers to effort rather than skill), which is a common autistic trait. I didnt get the sense he thought anyone could be half autistic, just that he is very good at some things and very bad at others with no in-between

 

[thejuice]

"I'm not an Aspie. I'm from the other end of the spectrum, I'm full blown autistic."

If some people don't like that then it's their tough luck, I am who I am and I make no apologies for it.

I think we're our own best experts. A lot of an autistic diagnosis is based on what we actually tell the specialist, beside professional observations.

Health professionals use that term to describe how successful people are in a social environment but in conversations between autistic people "high functioning" often refers to the extra special gifts that came with our autism.

Great point. It's a bit like "judging a fishes ability to climb a tree".

 

[Matthias]

Where I'm from, "not doing anything by halves" is an idiom meaning everything you do is either excellent or sub-par (or sometimes refers to effort rather than skill), which is a common autistic trait. I didnt get the sense he thought anyone could be half autistic, just that he is very good at some things and very bad at others with no in-between

Thanks for the explanation. I think my autism is too severe to understand how this relates to @Outdated level of autism severity.

 

[thejuice]

Thanks for the explanation. I think my autism is too severe to understand how this relates to @Outdated level of autism severity.

Id like to hazard a guess if I may. I think people respect authenticity. So even though one might be different, they are trusted because they aren't hiding anything, so are accepted socially. If socialising is anything like British pub culture, you get familiar with all sorts of varied people. It pays to be yourself, but that involves risk for us.

 

[Outdated]

I didnt get the sense he thought anyone could be half autistic, just that he is very good at some things and very bad at others with no in-between

Yes, that's correct. Absolutely anything I do always turns out either really really good or very very bad.

If socialising is anything like British pub culture, you get familiar with all sorts of varied people. It pays to be yourself, but that involves risk for us.

It's almost exactly like British pub culture except with warmer weather. That's what throws Brits when they come here, it's so similar to home for them that all the tiny little differences keep catching them off guard.

 

[Outdated]

I had to use AI to figure out what you meant by not doing anything by halves.

AI seems to be very US centric and doesn't understand local colloquialisms and idioms, or cultural icons outside of the US. I recently watched a youtuber use AI to try and get more information about comments on an Aussie reddit channel.

Someone said that Australia's also good at exporting queens, then the discussion went on to mention Mary. According to AI they were talking about drag queens.

No, they were talking about Queen Mary of Denmark who grew up in rural Tasmania.

So AI is sometimes a useful guide but it can also be a huge source of misinformation, use with caution.

Id like to hazard a guess if I may. I think people respect authenticity. So even though one might be different, they are trusted because they aren't hiding anything, so are accepted socially.

This is exactly my experience. You're correct that that doesn't always go down well with some people but I reckon it's best to get those sorts of issues out in the open right from the start. At least then there's no confusion and everyone knows where they stand.

 

[velociraptor]

AI seems to be very US centric and doesn't understand local colloquialisms and idioms, or cultural icons outside of the US.

I have the same issues with most of the major AI platforms as a Canadian.

Absolutely anything I do always turns out either really really good or very very bad.

FWIW, I'd put money on you AND give odds in your favour. I like the cut of your jib.