Another verbal fight today. I will not back down on this.

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Someone today made the mistake of telling me that I "have Apserger's". I had to, once again, try to explain that I do not "have" ASD, I am an ASD. To say that I have ASD implies that ASD is a disease to be treated or cured. Saying that I have ASD is exactly the same as me going up to anyone, worldwide, and saying "I've heard that there are some good medicines out there and some promising gene therapies in r&d to cure you of that skin color". Both are genetic in nature and an integral part of what makes me me. It is every bit as offensive to me that I am being lumped in with the diseased and sick as it is to people of color, or not, to be told that their skin color is not acceptable and needs to be "cured". Further, it's rather disturbing to me that society at large, supported by medical science, would find it easier to try to modify who and what I am to make me more acceptable to them, than it would be for society to be a little more understanding or tolerant of neuro-diversity. Discrimination is what it is no matter which direction it cuts. /rant

I am of the 'I am' rather than 'I have' way of thinking too. Most people will begin with 'you have' out of ignorance

rather than to cause offence and we are all ignorant over things we are not familiar with. Explain the difference

politely, you may need to remind them once or twice but in the end, as ASPartofMe said, we're old enough to define

ourselves. It's rude to contradict someone when they are talking about themselves anyway.

Thank you for posting this. At my job, we're constantly told to say things like, "Individual with autism," instead of "autistic person." They worry we will define someone by their autism too much, even though that's what the entire field seems to do, anyway. I agree that, for me, saying you have autism sounds kind of silly. Or at least that the difference can be somewhat trivial--does anyone care if you say they're blue-eyed versus having blue eyes? It's nice to see what some autistic people say about this, since the professionals I work with seem to be basing their view entirely on their own thoughts rather than interviewing actual autistic people.

"I have an Autism Spectrum Disorder."

"I am an Autism Spectrum Disorder."

Nope, does not seem to compute.

I always say "I have ASD".

I am autistic, and I have ASD.

"I am Autism Spectrum Disorder" sounds a bit silly to me.

^I use 'I am autistic'

or 'I am on the autistic spectrum'

So, someone with OCD, for example, should say "I am an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder"?
"I am an Attention Deficit Disorder"?
"I am a Bipolar Disorder"?

Help me out.
Like someone else said, it doesn't compute.
Grammatically, even.

^ thanks, fluffy.

what is concerning in this thread is that: