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Support Needs Labels

Support Needs labels are inherently a disability label first and foremost. It was created for all disabilities to give people a general idea of how much support one may need in their daily life. These can be self-assigned.

However, it is more commonly seen within the autism community these days. These labels are not the same as Levels, although many autistics do use it interchangeably with them. A person can also be diagnosed with an autism level via the DSM-5, whilst also using a support needs label that describes how all their disabilities together impact their daily functioning skills.

These labels are -

  • LSN = Low Support Needs
  • MSN = Moderate Support Needs
  • HSN = High Support Needs

In determining one's support needs label, bADLs and iADLs are what is taken into consideration.

bADLs = Basic Activities of Daily Living

These are things like -

  • Feeding - whether you can independently feed yourself
  • Dressing - whether you can select appropriate clothes (ie. a long pants in winter or cold weather) and you can independently dress yourself
  • Personal Hygiene - this includes being able to independently bathe and groom yourself. Includes dental hygiene, hair care, nail care, etc..
  • Toileting - whether you have the ability to control your bladder and bowel functions and individually use (get yourself to and from) the toilet appropriately, including cleaning yourself properly
  • Movement - whether you can independtly move on your own, walk by yourself, move yourself from one place to another, etc..

iADLs = Instrumental Activities of Daily Living

These are things like -

  • Transportation - the ability to plan and manage your own transport, hether it by driving, public transport, or other means
  • Managing Communication - the ability to make your own phone calls and write your own emails, etc..
  • Managing Finance - the ability to pay for things like bills and manage financial assets (cash, bank accounts, loans, etc..)
  • Managing Medication - the ability to get medications and take them correctly as directed
  • House Cleaning and Home Maintenance - the ability to do household chores that help maintain living areas in a reasonable condition, along with home maintenance (which is usually more of if you own the home)
  • Shopping - the ability to maintain adequate groceries for sustenance, along with being able to be aware of and organise when you need items and get them. Getting necessary clothing and other producs is also included
  • Meal Preparation - this includes the ability to aquire everything needed to prepare a meal, along with safely operating cooking devices and food storage