\n<\/p>\n
Despite the progress we\u2019ve made in awareness and understanding of autism, some ideas seem astonishingly resistant to change. One of the most persistent and most damaging is the continued use of functioning labels. In the last week alone, I\u2019ve been described as high\u2011functioning<\/em> twice. Each time, it troubled me deeply.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s start with the most obvious point: no one\u2019s functioning is static.<\/strong> Not mine, not yours, not any human being who walks this earth. Functioning is fluid. It shifts with context, capacity, health, environment, stress, sensory load, and age. It fluctuates hour by hour, day to day.<\/p>\n We all know this intuitively. Drink too much alcohol and your mobility, inhibition, and clarity of thought decline. Experience pain or illness and your capacity changes. Bright lights may be tolerable one day and unbearable the next if you\u2019re fighting a migraine. Yet we never describe an allistic (non\u2011autistic) person as low\u2011functioning<\/em> when their capacity dips. Their humanity is simply accepted.<\/p>\n When someone calls me high\u2011functioning,<\/em> or if I were to label myself that way, it creates an unspoken pressure. Am I allowed to be low\u2011functioning? How often? For how long? What happens when I inevitably fall short of the expectation they\u2019ve now set?<\/p>\n And what even counts as high\u2011functioning<\/em>? High achievement? Eloquence? Athleticism? Social fluency? I am not all of these things. Some I can mask if I must, but masking is not sustainable. And what about the times I shut down from overwhelm and become non\u2011speaking. Am I still ‘high\u2011functioning’ then?<\/p>\n Functioning labels don\u2019t describe autistic people. They describe how comfortable Allistic (non\u2011autistic) people feel around us.<\/strong><\/p>\n If high\u2011functioning<\/em> is problematic, low\u2011functioning<\/em> is downright demeaning. I would never use it to describe anyone – autistic or otherwise. And notably, it\u2019s rarely used for anyone who isn\u2019t disabled.<\/p>\n The label implies burden, incapacity, and limitation. It erases strengths, obscures potential, and narrows opportunities. It reduces a whole human being to a single, inaccurate dimension.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t just an autistic truth. It\u2019s a human truth. So if we understand this, why do functioning labels persist?<\/p>\n Functioning labels originated within the medical model, created by clinicians to categorise levels of support need. They were never designed by autistic people, nor intended to define identity. Over time, they crept into everyday language, where they became shorthand for assumptions about intelligence, independence, communication, and worth.<\/p>\n In both clinical and social contexts, they remain deeply flawed. Their real purpose – whether consciously or not – is to sort us into categories based on how easy or difficult we might make other people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n These labels measure not our humanity, but our perceived usefulness<\/strong> in a socially constructed system.<\/p>\n Worth is inherent. It is not earned through productivity, compliance, or convenience. Camoflauging or masking complicates everything further. Many autistic people, myself included, can appear ‘high\u2011functioning’ because we\u2019ve learned to hide distress, confusion, sensory overload, or executive functioning challenges. But the cost is immense: burnout, exhaustion, anxiety, and a loss of authenticity.<\/p>\n Functioning labels punish autistic people for coping too well and for not coping well enough. It\u2019s a double bind no one can win.<\/p>\n Support needs fluctuate with environment, predictability, sensory load, stress, and health. A person can be highly capable in one domain and need significant support in another. Static labels cannot capture this complexity.<\/p>\n Instead of functioning labels, we can talk about:<\/p>\n This is more accurate, more respectful, and more human.<\/p>\n Stop using functioning labels.<\/strong> The post Are we STILL using functioning labels to describe Autistic people?<\/a> appeared first on Mind Matters \u2013\u00a0Mental Health Training<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Despite the progress we\u2019ve made in awareness and understanding of autism, some ideas seem astonishingly resistant to change. One of the most persistent and most damaging is the continued use of functioning labels. In the last week alone, I\u2019ve been described as high\u2011functioning twice. Each time, it troubled me deeply. Let\u2019s start with the most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7061394,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[96877],"tags":[21690,76272,74334,2781,3794],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7061393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mental-health","tag-autistic","tag-describe","tag-functioning","tag-labels","tag-people"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Pressure of Being labelled ‘High\u2011Functioning’<\/strong><\/h4>\n
The Harm in ‘Low\u2011Functioning’<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Fact: Functioning Is Fluid – for Everyone!<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nFunctioning changes. Needs change. Context matters.<\/p>\nWhere these labels came from and why they are faulty<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n
Fact: Functioning labels do not define the worth of autistic people<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nFunctioning labels obscure this truth.<\/p>\nCamoflauging the illusion of functioning<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Support needs are not fixed<\/strong><\/h4>\n
A better way forward<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n
Call to Action …because awareness is not enough<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\nBe curious about individual needs.
\nRespect the whole person, not a category.<\/p>\n