Preference of the terms "Autistic" or "Person with Autism"?

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07 May 2022, 10:30 pm

naturalplastic,

Person first.

I have Autism and the signs and symptoms I display are why I have Autism, but it's not my personality, me. I meet the diagnostic criteria, so I was diagnosed. Whilst I may have trouble showing who I am due to the Autism, the Autism isn't who I am. The same can be said for the Trigeminal Neuralgia. I'll show far less of me during a decent attack of such than even the Autism. Things get tricky when it comes to personality disorders, where that tends to be the person. I don't have any of those (they tested me for those all the same). Organic disorders will be similar to personality disorders, along with traumatic brain injuries.

I know someone without Autism who is basically me in personality.

shortfatbalduglyman
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07 May 2022, 10:32 pm

"person with autism" contains too many syllables and sounds awkward

Thus far, the only species where anyone has been diagnosed with autism is humans. To say someone is autistic thus (correctly) implies that someone is human

Furthermore what is so great about being a human?

I am Chinese. I don't say "person from Asian descent"

Tongue twister

Saying "I am Chinese" does not "dehumanize" me any more than saying "I am a person of Chinese descent"

Semantics

Pragmatics

Linguistics

IsabellaLinton
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07 May 2022, 10:35 pm

Autistic person.

We are born autistic, so it's not an add-on or a suitcase. It's inherent to how we were created.

We wouldn't say:

A person with blackness (or any other racial heritage)
A person with maleness or femaleness (assuming we aren't discussing transgender or fluid people)
A person with goodness / badness
A person with tallness or shortness

It's who we are.

I don't understand making it an accessory, or being ashamed of it like we have to be a "person first".
We're still people even if we're autistic people.

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Sciency_Owen
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07 May 2022, 10:53 pm

Double Retired wrote:

Sciency_Owen wrote:

Can you elaborate on the dehumanisation that occurs when some iteration of the term "autistic" is used? I only ask, as to me, it seems to be a way of categorising people, in the same way you may categorise people by hair colour ie. that is a blond/blond person, that is a brunette/brunette person etc... So that means you could say "my friend X, is an autistic/autistic person" or "I am an autistic/autistic person. I can also say that I myself have not experienced dehumanisation by myself being referred to as autistic, and that the only dehumanisation that actually occurs comes from stigma around autism itself, not labels.

My brother is a Lefty. My sister is a blonde and her son is a red-head. Oops. Have I just dehumanized them?

That is my entire point, classifying people is not in itself a dehumanising process, and you have not dehumanised them by using a classification system such as hair colour, or their dominant hand they use to perform activities. I was simply wondering that dehumanisation occurs with the use of the word "autistic" as I have not perceived that dehumanisation occurs when using the word "autistic". I only provided the hair colour classification as an example to demonstrate that classifying people isn't dehumanising, it can actually just be a neutral statement.

HeroOfHyrule
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08 May 2022, 9:10 am

I use the terms "autistic" and "autist". I don't like when people use "person with autism" and direct it at me, because it asserts that autism is somehow separate from me and hasn't shaped my personality, likes/dislikes, relationships, etc. my whole life. I'd be a very, very different person if I suddenly didn't have autism, and it is 100% a part of me.

Shadweller
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08 May 2022, 9:27 am

It doesn't matter to me which order the words are put in; it doesn't make any difference to me.

If it is important to some people that is fine, but I have heard of some social media figures within the Autism community being rejected and bullied for not using the person first terminology that a certain section of the community prefers. I don't think that is right.

kitesandtrainsandcats
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08 May 2022, 10:27 am

Shadweller wrote:

If it is important to some people that is fine, but I have heard of some social media figures within the Autism community being rejected and bullied for not using the person first terminology that a certain section of the community prefers. I don't think that is right.

Sometimes there can be a very fine and rather fuzzy line between activist and bully.

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temp1234
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08 May 2022, 11:25 am

I'm surprised to see the result so far of the poll. No one prefers "person with autism". I think this kind of discussion sometimes happens in the autism community: person-first language and identity-first language. In this case "person with autism" is person-first language and autistic person is identity-first language. I thought in the past many people on the spectrum preferred person-first language but now it seems to have changed.

I don't really have a preference myself. "Autistic" is easier to use but I've heard "autistic" used as a derogatory term like "ret*d" by some people. Sometimes a neutral term gets used as a derogatory term repeatedly and eventually become a widely recognized derogatory term. I get a feeling that "autistic" is becoming one. It's quite deep rooted as some people think autistic traits are something to laugh about.

Pteranomom
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08 May 2022, 6:37 pm

I prefer autist/autiste. I dislike linguistic circulocutions like "person with autism."

Pteranomom
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08 May 2022, 6:43 pm

temp1234 wrote:

I'm surprised to see the result so far of the poll. No one prefers "person with autism".

IMO, "person with x" language works when you can imagine the person without the condition and they'd still be the same person. If I lost my hearing, my personality wouldn't change; if I got it back 10 years later, I'd still be me. To take the autism out without fundamentally changing who I am or how I relate to the world, however, is impossible.

shortfatbalduglyman
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08 May 2022, 9:10 pm

It also depends on the context and tone and intention

However "actions speak louder than words"

Besides what if someone got all the words correct, then what? That's like a perfect didjeridoo concerto

autisticelders
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09 May 2022, 5:02 am

I usually say I am autistic, but like my diabetes diagnosis, I can also use
" I have autism" in conversation or communications sometimes.

I have diabetes, I am diabetic. Communication discussing the condition either way.

I am autistic, I have autism. Ditto above.

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ASPartOfMe
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02 Dec 2022, 10:31 am

’Autistic’ Or ‘Person With Autism’? It Depends

Quote:

In a study of 728 autism stakeholders, researchers sought to examine whether the term “autistic” or the phrase “person with autism” holds favor in the U.S.

For the study, researchers surveyed 299 adults with autism, 81 parents of those on the spectrum, 44 family members or friends, 207 autism professionals and 97 people with no ties to the autism community.

The vast majority of adults with an autism diagnosis — 87% — preferred identity-first language such as “I am autistic” to describe themselves, according to findings published recently in the journal Autism.

Notably, however, the study authors point out that this leaves a “sizable minority” of individuals with autism who chose person-first language.

A majority of parents liked identity-first language best. But the trend flipped for the autism professionals and the friends and family members surveyed. People in these groups were more likely to prefer person-first terms while those with no affiliation to the autism community were pretty evenly split on whether to use person-first or identity-first language.

The takeaway, the researchers said, is how important it is for individuals to ask what members of the autism community prefer.

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Last edited by ASPartOfMe on 02 Dec 2022, 11:54 am, edited 1 time in total.

Doberdoofus
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02 Dec 2022, 10:49 am

I'm indifferent to all words used to describe my neurological difference, even ones that some find offensive

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steve30
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02 Dec 2022, 5:32 pm

It makes no difference. They mean the same thing.

How would this work for Aspergers Syndrome? Are you a "person with Aspergers syndrome"? Or are you "Aspergic?"

ToughDiamond
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02 Dec 2022, 8:37 pm

Looks like most Aspies don't want person-first nomenclature then. It seems that health professionals have decided what's good for us without asking. Personally I don't see why anybody would prefer person-first anything, but if a ND really wanted me to use it, then it'd probably be a case of "oh allright then, it doesn't make sense to me but it doesn't have to." Left to my own devices I'd just use go for the easiest, and that's not the person-first one. I don't normally mix with people who would use my choice as an excuse for Aspie-bashing, and I'd expect them to mock me if I did use person-first to them. The health professionals' views don't matter much to me in this respect.

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