Autistic vs Has Autism

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Hello I am posting here again for the first time in a long time I will try to be active more since having area like this not linked to social media is good.

I was with my helper and at the government office for unemployment, I had my teddy bear with me, ear defenders on and chewlery thing on neck and using phone to talk since I don't do well with new people/people not used to.

She was talking to the lady there about disability claim and how I obviously had autism (due to what I had with me?). She had said something similar with some thing else I can't remember.

when I first got her she asked if I prefer has autism or autistic and I said autistic I think but either is fine.

she said that autistic is like a bad thing to say since it links to stuff people see in media but if you say has autism you can say x person is good at x y z and has autism.

I thought you can use both but then this seems to mean one is worse than other?

You can use either but some people have reasons for preferring the one over the other. Valid arguments exist for both preferences, as well as for not having a preference.

They mean the exact same thing, so I never used to care.

Nowadays though I'd say I prefer 'has autism' because 'autistic' has been adopted by people who think we all have an 'autistic identity'.