People First Language

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It's more of an issue in the stigmatizing of people with mental health problems. Psychiatric survivors in the 1980s (and perhaps earlier) pointed out the dehumanizing effect of labels such as describing someone as
"a depressive" or "a schizophrenic" - rather than someone with a medical condition ("person who is currently experiencing episodes of depression").

The dehumanisation of "mental patients" became steadily recognised in the social sciences from the 1970s, particularly with the ground-breaking work of Erving Goffman and his books on marginalised and "stigmatised identities".

More recently there has been a dissemination of the importance of language as studies have accumulated on subjects such as identity politics, disability politics (Wikipedia covers the basics).

Language matters, because it symbolically represents our understanding of the world and communicates our perceptions (and unconscious perceptions) which are partly determined by culture. Notably, second wave feminism changed the language early on, making it eventually unacceptable to refer to women as girls. This was not about words but perceptions.

For me, I am a person with autism. It's a matter of choice. That's mine. But if you say "I'm autistic" that's fine with me. I don't think it's a lesser self-description, it's just a different self-perception. Am totally cool with it...


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_stigma

If someone needs to use person first language to remind themselves that you're a person, something's wrong with them.

lol you think I forgot that I'm a person!

I'm viewing it from a perspective of someone else (non autistic\ disabled) insisting on person first language for disabled people. People to whom the label applies obviously have the right to identify any way they want.

To me, a non disabled person insisting on person first language for disabled people sounds like they are having to constantly remind themselves that disabled people ARE people....

Last edited by jetbuilder on 16 Dec 2014, 9:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.

This. Why can't we all just get along?

Yes. Live and let live and mutal tolerance on this one. It's minor in the whole scheme of things as I see it.

I identify as autistic my autism does degine in in ways and I love this

http://autismmythbusters.com/general-pu ... -language/

http://musingsofanaspie.com/2014/06/18/ ... -language/
http://autisticadvocacy.org/identity-first-language/