Hi lemmy.world/c/autism,
We’re autistic and don’t believe in hierarchies. Here’s a 22-minute infodump on it: https://youtu.be/cuflpEQlFQk
This is your community, so we want this place to be your internet home, where you can be free to be your autistic true selves: share your interesting special interests, have meltdowns, be direct, expect others to be direct back, seek support for supposedly simple matters, make mistakes and receive compassionate feedback, be silly, and most importantly, feel included.
As moderators, we need your help. What do you want from the moderation team of /c/autism? Tell us freely. Don’t worry about upsetting us, saying the “wrong” thing, being “too much”, or whatever other unfair lessons we have been taught by society for being us. It’s okay. We get it. Talk to us so we can make this the best autism community we can make!
Some tips
Go to your favorite Lemmy communities, kbin magazines, subreddits, online forums, etc., see what you like about them, and then tell us to see if we can implement that here. Find what’s missing elsewhere that we could include here. Have discussions on our chat to brainstorm. Tell us more tips so we can add them to this list. Yours truly, The moderation team
What are community rules on functioning labels, level of autism, and severity of autism?
I’m in a support group on Facebook that doesn’t permit the use of these and it works very well. High and low support needs is what is used when applicable.
Labels and levels are problematic I think. It isn’t a linear spectrum, some of us don’t “have” autism worse or more than others, we’re all just autistic, it is who we are not what we are.
Autism is not a linear spectrum such things are extremely ableist.
That was my point
The DSM-V diagnostic levels, which are the only type of “functioning labels” I accept alongside whatever the ICD-11 equivalent is, only indicate the amount of support someone needs. People may require more support than others or have more debilitating presentations of symptoms and there is nothing wrong with that. So I would argue that people can have “worse” autism than others.
Let’s not gatekeep terminology.
Sorry, just thought I’d suggest it. We don’t use levels or severity in the UK, and we don’t diagnose functioning labels anymore. You’re diagnosed as autistic and that’s it. The support group I’m in reflects this and it is the most supportive and accepting place I’ve been online. I thought it’d be nice to spread that.
@guriinii @A_Chilean_Cyborg In most of the autistic online communities I’ve been in, the consensus seems to be that each person gets to choose how they describe their autism. I personally prefer using “low support needs” rather than"high functioning" or “level 1” to describe my autism, because that best describes my day-to-day life. But I also try to respect those who use levels or functioning labels to describe their autism, because they know their experiences better than I do.