Unfortunately many doctors and mental health professionals still refuse to acknowledge that it is a spectrum and it varies. I, personally, can handle a crowd, and handle a certain degree of speaking to others, but in scenarios like one on one, or speaking to an audience, or feeling put on the spot, I become completely non-verbal and overwhelmed. It can't be assessed on levels. From everything I have researched thus far, most often "higher needs autistics" aren't higher needs because of their autism, but rather because they also happen to have intellectual disabilities in addition to their autism.

@Jackie, would you say that is a fair assessment?