Is saying "someone is autistic" offensive?

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Well I am happy the way that I am, I do not want to be cured. To say that I "suffer from autism" is the same as someone saying a gay man suffers from gayness.

Plus to say that X has autism is as one of the others has already pointed out a black person does not have blackness. I would say that having our brains wired up differently to NTs makes out autism closer to the core of what we are than almost any of the minority groups have. For example if I talk to a gay man or a lesbian about the brightly coloured lizard sitting on a rock then to them the experience of looking at the lizard is no different to that of a heterosexual person. In the same way a black man looking at the lizard will experience the same lizard as a white woman.

But a autistic person may because of the sensory issues experience the lizard differently to a NT. Some ideas and concepts to an autist may be very to a NT because we think differently.

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Health is a state of physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity I am not a jigsaw, I am a free man !

Diagnosed under the DSM5 rules with autism spectrum disorder, under DSM4 psychologist said would have been AS (299.80) but I suspect that I am somewhere between 299.80 and 299.00 (Autism) under DSM4.

Unless you are using autistic in a derogatory sense, then no.

I'm autistic. My kid is autistic. That is how we are. Nothing offensive about that

The majority of people I have come across insisting on "person first" language are NT parents and carers who are still in that stage of wanting to fix their kid. Using person first language helps them feel more comfortable about the whole autistic thing, and they don't generally think about how that language is received by the person they are caring for.

I find the mother's statement slightly offensive. I call my self Autistic because it paints more of a positive picture of my Autism, and personally, I find that this "person-first language" has more negative connotations ... but overall, I couldn't care less! It is up to the individual to decide how they'd like to refer to the self, and anyone who disapproves of someone referring to themselves in the manor of THEIR CHOICE can go take a hike.

I also hate the word suffer in relation to autism. I don't suffer from autism, I suffer from society and their outdated opinions about autism.

Nope

I also suffer from autism.

I don't find it offensive.
What I do find offensive is the notion that my personhood, and the personhood of people like me, is not self-evident.

I would not find it at all offensive if someone said "she's autistic" , "she suffers from autism" or "she has autism" in reference to me or anyone else. Similarly, I wouldn't be offended if someone said "she's depressed", "she suffers from depression" or "she has depression" in reference to me or anyone else. All are correct statements about disorders with which a person has been diagnosed.

It is the "person first" mentality among NTs trying to be PC. It isn't that the word is offensive, but saying "autistic child" suggests that autism defines the person. Whereas saying "child with autism" puts the person first...

Bah. I always thought a lot of politically correct terms (and especially those related to ableism) were invented by someone other than the people they refer to, and here's a perfect example. This seems to be more about what NTs want to think about us rather than how we want to be perceived.

Anybody who says "person with ASD" should be scolded and publicly shamed.

I disagree with the statement by Emmanuela's mother, but I am more bothered by the "Johnny Comment" guy who keeps trying to make excuses as to why he believes autistic children bring bullying upon themselves.

I like Jim Sinclair's answer to questions of this sort.

http://www.autism.se/RFA/uploads/nedlad ... nclair.pdf