Levels: First, we need to clarify what they are, and what is meant by them.

 🇬🇷 Ελληνικά 

Levels: First, we need to clarify what levels are, and what is meant by them. We are talking about levels of support. The categorization is problematic in practice as well, because it does not always ensure the right support and often leads to an underestimation of capabilities and the removal of autonomy, or conversely, to non-recognition and lack of support. This reflects an overall misconception of autistic functioning and what is actually needed for access and support. There is also a direction and guidance toward normalization of behavior instead of real support. It reveals carelessness and indifference on the part of the system. And a subsystem—a behaviorist industry—that has taken over the situation in place of support, to which medical categorization and diagnosis lead in the form of “therapeutic intervention.”

From the lack of recognition and the existence of an “invisible level” (which I discuss in the post and video The Ableist Construct of “Camouflage”), to the direction toward behavioral normalization and indifference to support, the existing system and prevailing model is full of gaps and superficiality. It is officially left to the behaviorist subsystem, to which it grants authority, while the gap is also filled by other “alternative” subsystems that exploit parents’ sense of helplessness and the real lack of support (pseudo-therapies, even dangerous ones).

The first thing that must be clarified about “levels,” however, is that we are referring to support—nothing more and nothing less.

Beyond the problems of categorization itself—whether it practically leads to support and quality of life, or merely reflects indifference and a channeling into the subsystem that has taken over—there are perceptions connected to these levels that need to be disentangled. These perceptions concern, more broadly, the framework of “diagnosis” (viewing autism as a “disorder,” and therefore a nosological entity, with levels translated as “mild” or “severe”), its historical context, and the dominant ideas and stereotypes that spread socially through the prevalence and authority of medical model approaches. They concern ideas of “high intelligence” or “normal behavior” that have prevailed as the basis for the division into levels.

I analyze these ideas connected to the categorization of diagnostic “levels” in my more comprehensive recent text on this topic: Three Distinct Problematic Points of the Medical Model and the Misinterpretation of “Levels”.

Read on the blog

Η κριτική μου στοχεύει όσους εκμεταλλεύονται το θέμα, και τις νοοτροπίες εσωτερικευμένου Ableism.

Η Ableist Κατασκευή του «Καμουφλάζ»

Δεν μιλάμε για «κόστος». «Μπορούμε» = «μπορούμε». ΔΕΝ ΤΟΥΣ ΕΝΔΙΑΦΕΡΕΙ.

Deconstructing Camouflage - Autistic Journals S2Ep1

Videos

Common Misconceptions About Autism Levels – What It Really Means

The Ableist Construct of “Camouflage”

Deconstructing Autistic Camouflage

Podcast Autistic Journals Project 

A personal voice on the Αutistic experience, sharing a different understanding shaped by my journey. If parts of your experience leave questions unanswered, this open space for thought may be just what you’re looking for. Available in English and Greek (audio and subtitles).

Link

The Great Big ABA Opposition Resource List

Stay updated on pages New on the blog and New posts.