As many of you know the autism spectrum is a very broad spectrum and it affects people in varying degrees.

In the year gone back autism was described as high or low functioning and to my understanding it was used to not only determine the severity of autism someone had but also the level of support they would need throughout their lives.

The current DSM 5 categories autism by using a more definitive 3-tier leveling system and the leveling system is used to diagnose, and determine both the level of severity and type of support that one would need in their life.

Level 1 -This is the mildest form of autism and such people may require minimal support in their daily life.

Level 2 - This is essentially moderate autism and these people often require a lot more support than those with Level 1 autism.

Level 3 - This is severe autism and these people usually require 24/7 care and supervision throughout their lives. Most are also non-verbal.

Autism rarely travels alone and most autistic people have at least one co-existing condition regardless of what level of autism they have.

So the diagnostic criteria and method are essentially the same but the language being used to describe autism is different and in my opinion it's actually better than high and low functioning.

The prognosis for autism is wide and varied with some people being able to fully function and live independently and others needing some level of support.

There are some people in the autistic community who seek to remove the disability label entirely, and there are others who seek to keep the disability label but neither are helpful or correct as it would only serve to validate one person's lived experience but invalidate others.

I agree with self-identification which ideally allows an autistic person to identify themselves in a way that reflects THEIR lived experience as every person's lived experience is usually very different to the next person's but ALL are valid.

With that said, we need to be very careful NOT to project our own lived experience on others and NOT to assume any right to tell others how to identify, etc.

What we need to focus on is autism awareness, acceptance and inclusion as well as campaigning for the correct support and visibility for each person regardless of their level of autism.

Let's stop this super unhealthy and unhelpful “Them vs Us” narrative