ToughDiamond wrote:
This article was one of the few I could find that actually questioned person-first - most of the others were by staunch person-first advocates:
https://www.autismparentingmagazine.com ... son-first/I was surprised to see that parents prefer person-first. One reason seems to be their difficulty in coming to terms with the fact that their child is autistic. I suppose defensiveness is often ingrained into language like that. Whenever there's a significant degree of stigma or suspicion towards a group, language seems to get altered as some kind of attempt at a defense. But when I see that, I usually feel suspicious, because it's essentially an attempt to brainwash. I much prefer neutral, objective talking, and I soon get tired of having to remove the propaganda from everything I hear in order to find out what's really going on.
Thanx for finding & posting the link. It explained both sides of this debate as well as the history of person-first language which is quite relevant to this discussion.
It seems to me that getting hung-up on the language phrasing with autism as well as other various disabilities, issues, & problems sometimes detracts from focusing on more important issues & aspects. It's much more important to find ways to offer support & assistance to struggling autistic people & the parents of autistic kids than worrying about how autistic people chose to identify & refer to themselves & what's offensive & not offensive to them. I'm NOT complaining about this thread or any posts in it. It's not uncommon for the media, politicians, medical community, & various support systems to overy focus on language while neglecting & ignoring the struggles various people & groups face in their day to day lives.
Today, 7:30 am
