Functioning labels oversimplify the Autistic experience, and they do serve to imply that we should be defined by how productive and independent we are. That’s a big problem. At the same time, function labels can occasionally be used to highlight the fact that those of us who can talk, dress ourselves, or hide our meltdowns have social privileges other Autistic people do not have. I don’t function “highly” in every single realm of my life, but I am able to get by more easily than many other Autistics. My acceptance in society is conditional on my behaving respectably and being productive.
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