LABELS

This post may divide some people, but I'm interested to hear all viewpoints.

I think it's true to say that functioning labels are predominantly used by non-autistic people to describe an autistic person's ability to function in society, typically using labels such as "high-functioning" or "low-functioning".

Some people find both offensive and I get that. To the neurotypical person low functioning might mean non verbal or struggles academically and could dismiss what those individuals are good at. Whereas high functioning could mean the challenges faced daily are just not taken seriously enough or even recognised. Either way, the label is rather misleading.

After all everyone’s ability changes depending on the situation, their mood and even the amount of sleep they’ve had.

I think as a society we like to assign labels to people and things to help us process what's going on around us.

At the beginning of our journey with J and with little knowledge on board, I would have used the two labels as that is what I mostly read online and in books, but digging deeper, the reality is that it isn't as simple as that. It's called Spectrum for a reason right?

Writing this post has also got me thinking about "person-first" language. Again something I never even realised was a thing.

Somehow saying "my daughter with autism" seems like I am highlighting her diagnosis in some way. Does anyone else feel the same?