high functioning autistics / low functioning autistics

-A is autistic. He is working on his Masters degree in a university and is in a stable relationship and has been for more than a decade. He lives with his partner and they share the house chores. He has a good relationship with his supervisor. Also, he is an administrator of a forum, a blogger and has various hobbies such as drawing and writing. He likes to cook and to visit friends. He is talented in the field of biology, and many people appreciate his creativity. Sometimes he is a little nerdy and quirky, but his friends appreciate and like him. He has some certificates of excellence and can be considered as a contributing citizen.

-Y is autistic. She lives with her partner, and also is also studying for an academic degree. In the past she tried to complete a degree in another profession, but was kicked out because she was considered “weird”. She tends to avoid spoken communication with people, and has no friends at the university. It takes her a long time to submit assignments, and she tends to get confused while doing her job if someone is talking to her. She goes everywhere with noise-blocking headphones. Her supervisor has to constantly direct her, or else she becomes lost and confused; even though she has a relatively good intellectual ability — which allowed her to do a degree, she is quite a disaster in every other field. She has no social contacts at the university. When she returns home, she often collapses in exhaustion and sleeps a few hours before she can eat. Often she needs help from her partner to sit down and eat, she finds it difficult to bring herself to do it alone. She has often meltdowns, during which she cries and bangs her head against the wall. Because of the stress she is under sometimes she misses days at the university. She needs reminders to go to the bathroom, take medication and eat, otherwise she forgets. She can hardly fill out forms, and does not have the ability to sit in a student’s chair without her things falling off all the time. She cannot live alone or take care of herself, and the fact that she has managed to remain at the university until now is pretty much a miracle. Her family considers this to be one of her greater achievements, however they are ashamed of her and her behavior around people.

So, who is high functioning and who is low functioning?

Nobody, because these are harmful criteria, that hurt autistics and ignores their strengths and needs.
Nobody, because both of these people are…me.

~~~

I humbly thank Cynthia Kim for inspiring me to write this post. She did it first (and way better, BTW), and she is awesome!
I also Humbly thank both my live-in partner and my lover for the proofreading for helping me with grammar.

Originally published at queerloli.wordpress.com (my other blog)on March 26, 2015.