Why We Don't Use Functioning Labels in the Autistic Community

A while ago on TikTok a joke popped up in the autism community. The joke was we all started referring to ourselves as “Neurospicy” or as having “spicy autism” I didn’t get it at first, until I realized it was in response to how some people refer to autistics with lower support needs as having “mild autism” and so the neuro spice meter was invented. Because, at the end of the day, saying mild or severe autism is the same as applying functional labels.