Hello, thank you for your comments.

As I'm sure you know, the Autistic community (and those with high support needs, in particular) is not a monolith, so there will be a range of opinions on this subject.

It's very important to remember that autism is a fluid, dynamic disability, and that neurodivergent people have asynchronous development.

Someone who has high support needs may be nonspeaking yet extremely intelligent, for example, but being considered "low functioning", their abilities are underestimated. I know people who need a lot of support and when they write eloquently, they are told they couldn't possibly have high support needs because they write so well.

Someone who has lower support needs can still have meltdowns, feel overwhelmed, and need accommodations. Their (our) needs are often invalidated or minimized because we're considered "high functioning".

It's not binary, people are too complex to be placed at one end of a spectrum.

You can be different levels at different parts of the day because if you take in someone's life experience over a period of years, you will still see the fluctuations depending on how they're doing, the context/environment, what supports or accommodations are in place, etc.

People's needs and capacity change hourly, daily, annually.

Saying levels or functioning labels are oversimplifying human experience doesn't ignore the fact that there are people who need a lot of support and whose lives are significantly impacted on a daily basis much more than others. It means those factors shouldn't define who they are or limit their opportunities & independence as a result.