Self-Identity Poll

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Originally posted in General Autism Talk, but thought it fit best over here, so resubbiting.

So I got into a long talk with my autism specialist, who said that she respects my decision to use identity-first language, but that her higher-ups command that she use person-first language unless asked differently. I was talking to her about how important it is for the default to be what the community wants to be called, and then when children are old enough to speak for themselves, they can decide if they want to use person-first for themselves, but that until that individual can make that decision, the will of the overall community that is effected by (has) should be the default.

She said that if I had numbers backing up my claim that "most autistics prefer to be called autistic" she would send it up the chain of command, and do what she could to change the default at least for their organization.

So I have created a simple 2-question google doc. If you are autistic, or have autism, or are a person with autism, please fill it out and share it with other groups you may be in. If you are self-diagnosed, that is fine, so long as you yourself are the autistic person/person with autism/person who has autism.

http://goo.gl/forms/2zPgyS241O

if you have already seen/taken this, please do not re-take it!

Your post doesn't work - doesn't even materialize.

Worked for me. Try changing browser, settings, delete history etc.

I selected "Autistic".

Autism is part of the person I am, so the "person with x" schema doesn't work for me when x is autism. It does work good for "a bad hair cut" or "a cold virus" because those are not an intrinsic part of the person that is me.

I selected "Other". Autism is not an identifying characteristic. It is a condition. Only this, and nothing more.

it's not the words that matter.
it's the bigotry.

Decided to close the poll Friday at midnight So can keep sharing it around until then.

I chose "other" because I don't care one way or the other. "Autistic" is less cumbersome so I tend to use that for myself, but if someone else doesn't? Don't care.