#iadls

April 11th: What are some things that might come easy to neurotypical people, but which you either can't do or need help to do?

On good days , Pixie need help/prompting with Most basic Activities of daily living ( bADLs ) .

basic ADLs like eating , showering , and using toilet , Pixie need help with remembering to do ( prompting ) . need help get started like getting shower on and removing clothes , get First bite of food in mouth , things like that .

On good days , Pixie can never do , and need someone else do for Pixie , most Instrumental activities of daily living (iADLs) . like preparing meals, managing money, shopping, doing housework , using telephone , Taking Medicines , transportation ( Pixie uses disabled Access bus and but still need help with it ) , paying bills , Seeing / communicating with doctors , managing chronic illnesses like asthma and migraines , things like that . All these make Pixie dependent on guardians to do for Pixie . and . is Why Judge in court say Pixie “ incompetent “ and need legal guardianship to protect Pixie .

On bad days Pixie need even more help especially with basic ADLs . like . needing help with getting food from bowl to mouth . physically washing body in shower . physically being moved to where need go , like walking to bathroom or to Pixies room , things like that .

Pixie will never be is be able live alone . and . will always need lots help from guardians and caregivers .

my question is, when i look up bADLs examples they all show stuff about being physically able to do those things. i can physically feed myself fine but i won't do it without prompting and even then it's very difficult for me to eat in general so it's not a good idea for me to live alone cus i passed out a couple times. but i am technically able to feed myself so then does that mean i am not medium support needs? sorry if this is too vague.

Hello! I can’t tell you if you’re medium support needs or not, and I won’t because I don’t know you.

Just a by the way, feeding yourself doesn’t mean physically getting food or making food. For a bADL, it means getting the food from your plate to your mouth. If you need help with that then that’s a bADL. If someone could set food in front of you and you’d eat it by yourself, then that doesn’t count as needing help with a bADL, that’s a iADL. There’s a grey area between prompting and needing help, and I honestly can’t tell you. That’s your own journey that you need to go through and learn.

Can level 1 autistics be medium support needs?

What would you say the line between low and medium support needs is in terms of ADLs, generally?

Hi anon! So, the levels of autism and support needs pretty much line up well. So someone with level 1 autism will likely be low support needs, someone with level 2 autism will likely be medium support needs, and someone with level 3 autism will be high support needs.

However, someone with level 1 autism could theoretically be medium support needs. Autism levels aren’t perfect. They don’t take certain things into account, and sometimes professionals will take social and RRB (repetitive and restrictive behaviors) into account when they are diagnosing (which they should), instead of also taking support needs and care into account as well. Could a level 1 be high support needs? No, not at all likely. However, I’ve met level 2s who are high support needs. It all depends.

The line is bADLs. Things like bathing, eating (getting the food from the plate to your mouth), grooming, dressing, toileting, and more is the line. If you can’t do bADLs then you’re higher support needs. If you can, then you’re likely lower support needs.

Again, I’m not a professional, I can’t say if someone is low, medium, or high support needs. I can’t say what level is what. I can’t say anything besides my own research and observations.

Hey anon! Of course you can be nonverbal and low support needs, however with communication as an IADL, it’s less to do with verbal speech (although this is a big part of it too), and more to do with what you can do. Writing emails, making phone calls, texting, etc. Is all under the communication IADL.

Hey anon! I can’t tell you if you’re medium or low support needs. I’m simply a stranger on the internet! I don’t know you, your journey, your life, nothing.

What I can tell you is what I know so hopefully it can help you figure it out. Here’s what I know!

Low support needs = Needs help with just IADLs and can live independently to semi independently

Medium support needs = Needs help with IADLs and some bADLs and can live semi independently or not independently

High support needs = Needs help with IADLs and bADLs across the board. Can not live independently.

IADLs = shopping, communication (phone calls, emails, paperwork), cooking, paying bills, managing chores and house work

bADLs = feeding, dressing, bathing/grooming, walking, transferring, toileting.