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A matter of labelling
2008-03-23 01:07Found via Ballastexistenz: I Am Joe's Functioning Label.
This post is about labelling people on the autism spectrum according to ability to function and the ways in which this can be harmful to the person so labelled. Specifically it is about people labelled as "high functioning" whose difficulties are dismissed or attributed to personal failings and considered not at all to do with autism.
It does not speak about people labelled "low functioning" but this comment succinctly summarises what I sought to add on that matter in this post:
I would not attempt to speak any further on that matter because I do not know. It does seem to me that these labels are based mostly on ability to communicate via socially predominate channels.
There was more I intended to say, personally related, but that would get repetitive with another post I am trying to write. Hopefully it will suffice to say that, so far as labels and diagnoses go, I think they cease to be useful when adherence to them obscures the subject of the label.
This post is about labelling people on the autism spectrum according to ability to function and the ways in which this can be harmful to the person so labelled. Specifically it is about people labelled as "high functioning" whose difficulties are dismissed or attributed to personal failings and considered not at all to do with autism.
It does not speak about people labelled "low functioning" but this comment succinctly summarises what I sought to add on that matter in this post:
"And then there's its equally evil twin, the "low functioning" label, which ensures that any and all abilities are ignored."
I would not attempt to speak any further on that matter because I do not know. It does seem to me that these labels are based mostly on ability to communicate via socially predominate channels.
There was more I intended to say, personally related, but that would get repetitive with another post I am trying to write. Hopefully it will suffice to say that, so far as labels and diagnoses go, I think they cease to be useful when adherence to them obscures the subject of the label.
