Autism Functioning Levels Are Important, Reality Based Distinctions, It Is Time To STOP Pretending They Do Not Exist

There are people whose opinions about autism are sought out by members of the media who promote the falsehood that there is no such thing as people who are low-functioning. Those who promote this falsehood should STOP doing so and they should stop right now. They are causing harm. 

We do not do any favors for persons who are severely affected by disorders like autistic disorder, those who have serious intellectual deficits and lack the ability to function independently, by making statements denying that some persons with autism are low functioning because of their autism.  We are hurting them by denying their reality and by assigning blame to them and family members because they do not meet  the high standards of those less severely affected, if at all, by autism. Under the DSM5's new Autism Spectrum Disorder persons who lacks functioning deficits in everyday life activities should not receive a diagnosis  and should not be described as autistic. The proposed wording of the New Autism Spectrum Disorder, despite some questionable components, does make the functioning issue clear in Criterion D of the 4 mandatory criteria to meet an ASD diagnosis:

"D.         Symptoms together limit and impair everyday functioning."



The three categories in the New ASD are distinguished based on functioning levels:



"Level 1 Requiring Support





Level 2 Requiring Substantial Support 





Level 3 Requiring Very Substantial Support "

Being positive about facing challenges should not be taken to the extreme of denying that many people have disorders that in fact render them low functioning even to the extent of being dependent on the care of others in order to live. J E Robison, Alex Plank, Ari Ne'eman, Michelle Dawson and most, if any,  of the members of the Board of Directors of ASAN Inc. do not share the deficits, the low functioning levels, of the 80% of persons with Autistic Disorder (DSM-IV) who have intellectual disabilities.  These successful business people, college graduates, researchers and political participants, some who have sufficient communication skills and social abilities to be able to play in rock bands, find marriage partners, raise families, and participate in high level political and corporate environments do not share the challenges faced by the low functioning persons with autistic disorder whose realities they downplay or deny entirely.  The great irony is that it is on THE Spectrum, Autism Spectrum Disorder, where you find persons with an incredibly wide and disparate range of abilities, deficits and challenges that we are most likely to find people denying that functioning levels matter or even exist.

The attempt to deny the importance of different functioning levels among persons with Autism Spectrum Disorders should STOP right now.  It hurts those most severely affected by autism.

Dear USA: This Canadian Father With a Severely Autistic Son Says Thank You for Combating Autism

"in order to continue meeting the needs of people with autism, the Combating Autism Act

must be fully reauthorized. We still have a long way to go. Working collaboratively with

important partners, the Affordable Care Act and the Combating Autism Act will allow   

 us to research and develop and refine vital treatments

Kathleen Sebelius,  US Secretary of Health and Human Services, April 25, 2011

Autism is a severe and limiting medical disorder for which treatments and cures must be found through solid, focused research.  Autism is a disorder which should be combated so that those who suffer from it can live fuller, more independent, lives. Here in Canada we do not have a serious, focused national autism strategy or recognition of the need for a national effort to combat autism disorders.  We are lucky that our  neighbors in the US have had the good sense and determination  to try and address and combat autism disorders through research  efforts under the Combating Autism Act.

This Canadian  thinks of many things when I think of the USA.  Some of these things are negative. Most are positive, very positive. I think of our neighbors as confident, freedom loving people who constantly seek to better themselves. I think of Americans as people with strong commitments to family.  I think of Americans as people who are afraid of no challenge as amply demonstrated by the audacious and successful commitment by former President John F. Kennedy to put men on the moon by the end of the 1960's.  Autism is a serious disorder which impairs and restricts the lives of those who suffer from it.  The continued efforts in the US, under the provisions of the Combating Autism Act, have helped direct research toward understanding and finding treatments and cures for autism.  It is of great  importance for everyone affected by the serious challenges of autism, including Canadians, that those efforts, and the Combating Autism Act, continue.

This Canadian father with a severely autistic son says thank you to our American friends for the efforts made under the Combating Autism Act.  I  hope you decide to continue this important undertaking. It may not be as glamorous as putting men on the moon but, for many affected by autism and their families, it is of fundamental importance.