COMMENT | Why functioning labels are harmful to persons with autism

COMMENT | Functioning labels such as “high functioning” and “low functioning” for autism are harmful and damaging. People who use these labels in reference to persons with autism pre-judge their ability and people who hear them assume their accuracy even before giving them a chance.

Let me explain this in a more relatable way. Let’s say you apply for a job. You are asked to send in a CV. You send it in and get an e-mail back almost immediately. They tell you how impressed they are by your CV and how perfect you would be for the job, but they inform you that you forgot to attach a photo and to send one immediately. You send them a photo of yourself in a separate e-mail.

Two weeks go by. No reply. No e-mail. How does this leave you feeling? You were not even given a chance because an assumption had been made about you from your picture which you could do nothing about. You were labelled.

Labels and assumptions are detrimental to persons with autism because they are generally created by others and limit the support, accommodations and opportunities for the autistic community. The worst thing about labels is that they are difficult to change and they determine how others view and...