I have flown MD11's for two US carriers now, and was also contract trained by a third carrier and MD in Long Beach.
The MD11 has undergone an interesting evolution in this area, from a strong "do not touch it" philosophy that sprang from the manufacturer, to today's environment where proficiency in ALL levels of automation is required.
At my last employer, I was known for clicking off the autothrottles any time I hand flew an approach. A junior FO turned me in to the head of standards, who emailed me to stop doing this.
I wrote him back that if he would put a letter in my file stating that I was not responsible for flying with A/T deferred, I would stop practicing for such a scenario. I never heard back from him.