Ep. 95 Why High & Low Functioning Labels Are Harmful
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What are “high‑functioning” and “low‑functioning” labels and why do they matter?
What's up everyone and welcome to Making the Shift for Autistic Kids. We're an SLP couple from California with four boys. And we're here every week to bring you neuroaffirming tips, tricks, and tools. Are you ready to make the shift? Let's do this!
Today we are tackling something that comes up in schools, therapy sessions, and everywhere in between. It is the use of the labels high functioning and low functioning when we are talking about autistic kids or autistic people of any age. We're gonna talk today about how these labels of high and low functioning are actually harmful. They don't represent a child's actual abilities. They are oftentimes inaccurate, but don't worry because we are going to be talking about what you can do instead. Okay, so first of all, let's talk about what you think they actually what you think it means. Like at the surface level, a lot of people think, yes, this is helpful for a child because of what they think it means, but here's what it actually means.
So oftentimes when we hear the term low functioning, to us that means this person has visible support needs. What it actually means is that there's so much going on that we don't even know under the surface, right? So oftentimes we see a child that is labeled low functioning and we assume low functioning equals low language ability, low cognition, low understanding what's going on in the world. Okay. So That for obvious reasons is really harmful when we're describing that because a lot of times a person who On the surface level, you would you would see and label as low functioning actually has so many incredible skills. And we know this because we know a lot of non-speaking adults and autistic people and children who have incredible cognition.
How do “low‑functioning” labels misrepresent a child’s true abilities?
We know a lot of non-speaking autistic adults who have, you know, maybe 24-7 care and they have gotten their college degree. Okay. We can't make assumptions based. Oh, this this person doesn't speak or this person is stimming a lot, and that means that they are low functioning and have low abilities across all areas of their life. Okay, so that is why the term low functioning is often harmful. It really just oversimplifies something that is so complex. Okay. And then the term with high functioning is interesting because a lot of people will use that as dust justification, like Like, oh well, he's high functioning, and it's like they're throwing it out there as a compliment. Okay. I've talked to many autistic adults who say.
People say I'm high functioning, but they don't see that I'm actually drowning. Like metaphorically. They don't see how hard life is for me. So the term high functioning we often When we hear that term, we think that means this person is independent. But what we don't see is all of the internal struggles that can be going on that could be affecting them in so many different ways. So it's really just invalidating that they have other struggles in their life that they very likely need accommodations for and deserve accommodations for. But a lot of times when we have labels like high functioning, to us that means, well, you're fine. You don't need any help. You're good to go. And that really takes away the services that they deserve.
Okay, so why are these labels so misleading? One, they are ignoring the context. A person's abilities, a ch changes a lot depending on the environment that they're in, the sensory input that's around them, their stress level. I mean think about If you're gonna sit down and take the SATs. Okay, I know none of us wanna do that again. Think about going and you had a good breakfast and you slept well and you've been studying and you go and it's it's comfortable and you're you have friends there. Like how great that would feel for you. Versus say you just stayed up for two nights in a row and you found out some really tragic news two hours before the test, and you get into the room and it's fifty degrees in there and you don't have a sweater, right?
It's like you just have to to envision yourself in those situations where environment really
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What are “high‑functioning” and “low‑functioning” labels and why do they matter?
0:08–2:02
2
How do “low‑functioning” labels misrepresent a child’s true abilities?
2:02–5:46
3
Why can “high‑functioning” labels hide serious internal struggles?
5:46–7:53
4
What are the three main ways these labels mislead educators and therapists?
7:53–10:09
5
How does the environment and stress level change an autistic person’s functioning?
10:09–12:26
6
What’s a more accurate alternative to functioning labels?
12:26–14:29
7
How can describing a child’s support needs improve classroom and therapy planning?
14:29–14:36
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from The NeuroAffirm Podcast
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Ep. 123 Not Seeing Progress in Speech Therapy? Start Here.
Ep. 122 Screen Time Considerations for Autistic Kids
Ep. 121 The Biggest Sensory Mistakes SLPs Make
Ep. 120 Why Anxiety is So Common in Autism (And What Actually Helps)