High Functioning Autism Quotes

A marijuana high can enhance core human mental abilities. It can help you to focus, to remember, to see new patterns, to imagine, to be creative, to introspect, to empathically understand others, and to come to deep insights. If you don’t find this amazing you have lost your sense of wonder. Which, by the way, is something a high can bring back, too.

Often those on the more able end of the spectrum may be considered too "high functioning" by the systems in place to require any type of support, yet access to someone who could coach them a few hours a week would make all the difference in their lives.

believe that some kids who are in the middle to more high-functioning range of the autism continuum, like me, do not receive the proper stimulation and end up turning inward to such an extent that they can’t function in society, even though they may be incredibly brilliant in some narrowly defined field, like abstract mathematics.

I believe that some kids who are in the middle to more high-functioning range of the autism continuum, like me, do not receive the proper stimulation and end up turning inward to such an extent that they can’t function in society, even though they may be incredibly brilliant in some narrowly defined field, like abstract mathematics.

Some are assumed to be too “high functioning” to need accommodations, but actually suffer deeply from a lack of accessibility and support.

And me? I’m overestimated just as often because I’m so loquacious. What looks like “high-functioning” is really just “highly camouflaged.” My challenges aren’t less real. Nor are they less autistic. They’re just less obvious.

his obsessive adherence to routine and preoccupation with a few obscure areas of interest led many psychologists to conclude that Halliday had suffered from Asperger’s syndrome, or from some other form of high-functioning autism.)

obsessive adherence to routine and preoccupation with a few obscure areas of interest led many psychologists to conclude that Halliday had suffered from Asperger’s syndrome, or from some other form of high-functioning autism.) Despite

The most common hit I get is the cringeworthy “You’re autistic? Well, you must be very high-functioning.” Sigh. I understand what they’re trying to say. Really, I do. They mean to be kind. The implication is “I don’t see many—if any—of the clearly debilitating characteristics I associate with autism when I talk to you. So, good on you. You’re not bad off!” Only that’s not a compliment at all. It’s a comparison based on the premise that “autistic” is an insult. A stigma. Or at least a bad thing. Because the only reason someone thinks of me as “high-functioning” is by holding me up to someone who is no more or less autistic—just more obviously challenged—and deciding that they are “lower-functioning.” Really, it’s no different than saying, “Oh! Well, good for you. You’re not too ugly. That gal over there? She’s royally ugly.” Lack of understanding tied up with a bow of condescension.

Visual over-stimulation is a distraction from concentration and evokes the same sort of reactions as over-stimulation from noise. But the source might surprise you. Even fussy clothing moving around can be a visual distraction, or too many people in the room, or too many machines with moving parts. For those who work outside, a windy day is a triple-threat—with sound, sight, and touch all being affected. Cars moving, lights, signs, crowds, all this visual chaos can exhaust the AS person. Back in the office, too many computer screens, especially older ones with TV-style monitors, and sickly, flickering, unnatural fluorescent lighting were both high on the trigger list. The trouble with fluorescent light is threefold: Cool-white and energy-efficient fluorescent lights are the most commonly used in public buildings. They do not include the color blue, “the most important part for humans,” in their spectrum. In addition to not having the psychological benefits of daylight, they give off toxins and are linked to depression, depersonalization, aggression, vertigo, anxiety, stress, cancer, and many other forms of ill health. It’s true. There’s an EPA report to prove it (Edwards and Torcellini 2002). Flickering fluorescent lights, which can trigger epileptic seizures, cause strong reactions in AS individuals, including headaches, confusion, and an inability to concentrate. Even flickering that is not obvious to others can be perceived by some on the spectrum.

We would also expect the more masculine-looking person to have higher levels of autism traits. High functioning autism (or Asperger’s) is characterised by a very strong ability to systematize (create and work out systems) but a very weak ability to empathise. Autistics are socially unskilled, obsessed with detail, and have little interest in other people. These characteristics are associated with high testosterone. Autistics are subject to elevated fetal steroidogenic activity, including elevated levels of testosterone, as evidenced by tests of their amniotic fluid (Baron-Cohen et al., 2015). Dawson and colleagues (2007) have shown that autism is associated with a distinct intelligence profile. Autistics score strongly on the Ravens test (which strongly tests systematizing) relative to scores on broader IQ tests, which include vocabulary tests, for example. They score on average 30 percentile points higher, and in some cases 70 percentile points higher, on the Ravens than they score on the Wechsler, which is a broader test. So,

While many autistic people face great challenges as children, things become even harder once they reach adulthood. Suddenly, society expects you to be “an adult” and behave and function as such. It is such a shame that exactly at the point in their lives when they need it the most, the support they receive from organizations and resources often stops. Because I was diagnosed at 21, I never received any support as a child. After I received my diagnosis, my mother tried to find all kinds of resources, but she soon realized that I was too old for much of anything.

The idea that Autism is a “boy’s” disorder goes all the way back to when the condition was first described at the turn of the twentieth century. Hans Asperger and other early Autism researchers did study girls on the spectrum, but generally left them out of their published research reports.[55] Asperger in particular avoided writing about Autistic girls because he wanted to present certain intelligent, “high-functioning” Autistic people as “valuable” to the Nazis who had taken over Austria and were beginning to exterminate disabled people en masse. As Steve Silberman describes in his excellent book NeuroTribes, Hans Asperger wanted to spare the “high functioning” Autistic boys he’d encountered from being sent to Nazi death camps. Silberman described this fact somewhat sympathetically; Asperger was a scientist who had no choice but to collude with the fascist regime and save what few children he could. However, more recently unearthed documents make it clear that Asperger was far more complicit in Nazi exterminations of disabled children than had been previously believed.[56] Though Asperger held intelligent, “little professor” type Autistics close to his heart, he knowingly sent more visibly debilitated Autistics to extermination centers.

Although there are no set methods to test for psychiatric disorders like psychopathy, we can determine some facets of a patient’s mental state by studying his brain with imaging techniques like PET (positron emission tomography) and fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) scanning, as well as genetics, behavioral and psychometric testing, and other pieces of information gathered from a full medical and psychiatric workup. Taken together, these tests can reveal symptoms that might indicate a psychiatric disorder. Since psychiatric disorders are often characterized by more than one symptom, a patient will be diagnosed based on the number and severity of various symptoms. For most disorders, a diagnosis is also classified on a sliding scale—more often called a spectrum—that indicates whether the patient’s case is mild, moderate, or severe. The most common spectrum associated with such disorders is the autism spectrum. At the low end are delayed language learning and narrow interests, and at the high end are strongly repetitive behaviors and an inability to communicate.

Wear a hat with a brim to counter the effects of overhead lights. It can also give you a feeling of security.

Generally speaking, if an Autistic person was verbal from a young age and could fake some social niceties, they were likely to either be considered “high functioning” as kids, or they weren’t identified as Autistic at all. This is a bit ironic, because learning to speak at an early age was an early indicator of Asperger’s Disorder

She would never have qualified for a diagnosis of Asperger’s, the term that was associated with verbal skill and “high functioning” autism. But many people whom doctors characterize as “high functioning” have just as many, if not more severe, social impairments as people we might think of as “low functioning.” In addition, bright and verbal people with Asperger’s, who perhaps have undergraduate or graduate degrees, might expect—or their parents might expect—that they will find employment that demands far more social ability than they possess. In those cases, it’s difficult to set one’s sights lower. The same is true for the parents of so-called low functioning adults who set their sights higher.

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If only there were an emotional Google Translate app for those living with autism. Perhaps one day someone would invent such an app—someone on the high-functioning end of the spectrum, diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome. One of the group that Hans Asperger first labeled in 1944 as “little professors.

Given that we seek the small and manageable, it is no surprise that many high-functioning autistic people, unable to communicate with others above the ringing swirl, shout across the canyons of reality by writing. The aesthetic wonder of cutting and tracing the lines of one’s thoughts and feelings into the steady lines of permanent letters offers the tracings of keys, the thrill of high-wire words crossing so many gaps, paintings of tiny landscapes—their horizons traced out in the mountain ranges of sentences and the strata of paragraphs. There we find a peaceful world of art and order, a land we can share.

High-functioning autism is not a disability but a different way of seeing life, and we should focus on our skills and the things we are capable of rather than the things we cannot do. We are defined by our abilities and our potential, not our problems.

Associative thinkers see relations and connections everywhere and tend not to categorize things. When I hear or read a certain word, I suddenly see a lot of “pictures” in my mind that have something to do with that word. This happens in quite an unstructured and even chaotic way. It's a complicated spiderweb of memories, pictures, and thoughts

The sad fact is that many autistic adults do not have a job or have never worked for pay. Many autistic people do volunteer work while living on disability payments because they encounter too many issues at a workplace. Even though volunteer work also comes with responsibilities, there's less pressure regarding expectations and deadlines.

Ableism is discrimination against people with disabilities. It is the harboring of beliefs that devalue and limit the potential of people with physical, intellectual, or mental disorders and disabilities. For instance, people might believe that autistic people will never be an asset to society, and that they need to be “fixed” or “cured".

In 1981, Lorna Wing, a British psychiatrist, introduced the name Asperger's syndrome after taking interest in Asperger's research.

Many autistic people are very good at hiding their autistic traits in public. People often don't see their real struggles or their meltdowns.

When making choices, neurotypical people can be very sensitive about how a question or choice is presented or framed. Most people prefer an outcome that is presented in a positive light as opposed to a negative light, even if the two choices are identical.

When I want to create something or solve a problem in my apartment and I go into a hardware store to find resources, I never ask for help.

Mathematical/musical thinkers are pattern thinkers. They think in patterns and they notice patterns in numbers and music. They are often great composers, computer programmers, or chess players.

Verbal thinkers tend to be very good at learning languages and are interested in words and literature. They often have an extensive knowledge and memory of movies, history, or geography, and they enjoy making lists about facts in alphabetical order.

Even the terms high-functioning and low-functioning are considered inaccurate by some in the community, so I’ve made deliberate choices to use the terms autistic people prefer. Unless quoting other sources, studies, or published work, I won’t use labels having to do with functioning.

So while the label high-functioning might be used as a compliment (I know people have called me that in the past), it winds up delegitimizing the needs of autistic people who can pass.

One of the most common issues autistic students have with homework is exhaustion. When I came home after a day of school, I was so tired.

Most, if not all, people on the autism spectrum use masking when they go out in public. When I’m in public or around others, they get to experience the very best of me as I tend to hide my autistic traits.

By 1955, however, Kanner was finally beginning to see the extent of variation in the continuum for himself by following up on his original patients. Even “low-functioning” children could grow up to become “high-functioning” adults, but only if they managed to stay out of an institution and were given a chance to develop their innate gifts—just as Asperger had predicted back in 1938.

Children who begin early to capitalize on their strengths are laying an important foundation for future success.

An impressive resume or academic transcript might hide the fact our homes are messy, our hair is unbrushed, and we haven’t socialized with anybody recreationally in months. In a few key areas we may appear to be functioning highly, but that façade requires we let everything else in life fall apart.

I’m not broken; my brain just functions differently. And the more I accept that I have a high flow of emotions and always will, the better I feel.

some could name things in their environment, others could count or say the alphabet, still others could recite whole books, word for word, from memory. However, they rarely used their speech to communicate with others. The

While most children with ASD establish warm, loving relationships and secure bonds with parents, siblings, and understanding adults, most, if not all, individuals with ASD experience difficulty relating to peers of approximately the same age. Some children

have rewarding and successful relationships with their peers and others.

One resourceful mom took her son’s fixation on the video game Minecraft and made real wood “Minecraft” blocks for her son and the neighborhood kids to play with. This provided a connection between building things in the virtual world and building structures in the real world.

Virtually everyone with ASD improves with time and age. Children learn to express themselves through language

child with ADHD may not seem to listen when spoken to or follow directions, may be reluctant to engage in tasks that are boring or effortful, may be distracted easily, fidget, leave his or her seat when sitting is expected, have difficulty waiting his or her turn, interrupt others, and talk excessively.

You will learn that living with ASD can have many challenges, but also great rewards that are uniquely yours to cherish.

In reality, if they are autistic, they may either identified as:   ◦         High-functioning, or ◦         Low-functioning   by their physicians. But diagnosed autistics, self-diagnosed people, people in the process of getting a diagnosis, people seeking a diagnosis,  wannabees, and misdiagnosed individuals may consider themselves to be either:   ◦         High-functioning, or ◦         Low-functioning   regardless of how their physician has identified them. Many times diagnosed autistics, self-diagnosed people, people in the process of getting a diagnosis, people seeking a diagnosis, wannabees, and misdiagnosed individuals will call themselves high-functioning when they aren't. They

the book contains numerous references to Monty Python. This is firstly because it’s something of a Polish obsession, and one of our key points of reference for English-language humor. But also because in some ways it reflects the nature of autism, an experience which brings moments of both tragedy and comedy—often at the same time.

The black hole Autism often feels like a black hole. If you’re in its gravitational pull, there’s no escape. It absorbs all matter it comes across. It sucks the energy out of everything. Which

Many sufferers at the mild end of autism live undiagnosed, their behavior defined as eccentric, strange, atypical. Socially they find themselves in a difficult situation because they exist on the border of social understanding, isolated despite often exceptional levels of skill and creativity. Indeed, in spite of these skills, those from the mild end of autism tend to have problems fitting in within mass educational institutions. They are perceived as DIFFERENT.

I admire you for talking about your grandson’s autism so openly,” Bartek’s grandmother was told recently. Why the admiration? Should we be hiding it? And if so, then why? I think it’s because many, so-called ‘normal’ people are not mature or educated enough to deal with disability. Hiding disability makes sense only if the disabled person expects that his or her disability will cause an adverse reaction in society.

In general, state-funded education ends the day a person with autism turns 21. Beyond that, there are no legal mandates, and there is very little funding. “It’s like giving someone a wheelchair on a one-month rental,” Gerhardt says, “and at the end of the month, they have to give it back, and walk.

I do not subscribe to functioning labels because functioning labels are inaccurate and dehumanizing, because functioning labels fail to capture the breadth and complexity and highly contextual interrelations of one's neurology and environment, both of which are plastic and malleable and dynamic. Functioning is the corporeal gone capitalistic -- it is an assumption that one's body and being can be quantitatively measured, that one's bodily outputs and bodily actions are neither outputs nor actions unless commodifiable.

Not a lot of people outside of the compound knew about Damien. The reason for that was pretty simple—Damien was Lorenzo Maroni’s imperfect child. Somehow, he’d had the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck during his birth, which cut off his supply of oxygen for a few precious seconds, a few seconds too many. That had cost Damien his ability to gauge the world. Dante was sure he was on some spectrum of autism, especially because his mind was too high-functioning for his age while his social skills weren’t good. It had never been properly diagnosed though, so he couldn’t be sure. Bloodhound Maroni could not accept that his younger son could have a mental condition that required some help. While he had the abundance of resources to get Damien help anytime, he turned a blind eye to his younger son. Even though he was a great kid, Dante knew he had issues expressing himself, certain behaviors that were not appropriate in the world but appropriate for him. Dante knew that Damien would never, ever find acceptance and love in the world he lived in, and he deserved both those things.

This separation between real autistics and people who are "just quirky," "just awkward" or "almost too high-functioning to count" is a mental dance that non-autistics have to do whatever they're confronted with a 3-D autistic human being in the flesh. Otherwise everything they've ever thought, everything they've ever been told about us, starts to seem a little monstrous.