A person might be highly successful in one area, such as their academic life, but struggle with being in crowds or coping with sensory overload. Rather than applying functioning labels, doctors now talk about autism as a spectrum. When this happens, an autistic child’s parent or caregiver might argue that a “high-functioning” person does not fully understand the autistic experience.

Some people use the term “high-functioning” to dismiss the concerns of autistic adults about how society treats autistic children.

It prioritizes the experiences of society with the autistic person rather than the experience of the autistic person in society.

It may ignore the need of people labeled “high-functioning” to get support.

It relies heavily on cultural norms that prioritize academic success and language.

It is ableist and judges some people as better or less successful than others.

It prioritizes some types of functioning, such as language skills, over others, such as the ability to understand social norms.However, opponents of the term cite several problems with it, offering the following arguments: does not have language differences or clear developmental delays.receives their autism diagnosis as an adult, or relatively late in childhood.Some people may use the term when a person: Because “high-functioning” is a subjective judgment, based on cultural norms and not a diagnosis, the criteria vary depending on who defines the diagnosis. In the past, some clinicians called people with Asperger’s syndrome “high-functioning” because they are less likely to have language issues and often have fewer noticeable signs of autism.

Therefore, different medical professionals may disagree about who is high-functioning and who is not. Instead, it is a judgment of a person’s ability to function in society. While autism is a clinical diagnosis based on specific diagnostic criteria, the specification of high-functioning autism is not.

High functioning autism