No reviews to date have summarized the views of parents on the functional challenges and/or strengths of their children with autism spectrum disorder. We set out to perform a scoping review aiming (a) to identify and collate global results to provide a broad description of parental perspective of functioning research and (b) to summarize these using the International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health--Child and Youth version framework. The International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health provides a language to describe the functional skills of an individual with a health condition in terms of their body structures, body functions, activities and participation, their environmental and personal factors. Given the influence that context has on functioning, and the potential impact of economic status on availability of resources, we were specifically interested to compare perspectives from high-income countries and low-/middle-income countries. Two researchers conducted a comprehensive search of English peer-reviewed studies published between 1990 and June 2016. Articles were accessed and summarized using thematic analysis. Meaningful phrases were extracted from key findings and linked to second-level International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health--Child and Youth categories following international linking rules. Thirty-three studies were identified of which only six originated from low/middle-income countries (n=6/33, 18%). Two studies compared perspectives from low-/middle-income countries and high-income countries (n=2/33, 6%). Functional themes from high-income countries included a range across the International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health--Child and Youth biopsychosocial framework while functional themes from low-/middle-income countries were predominantly focused on environmental factors. We propose further research should consider a systematic comparison of high-income and low/middle-income countries across functional categories to get a more accurate impression of the impact of context on functioning.