Terminology:What Should You Call a Person With a Disability?

Post Reply New Topic

I know that autism and other labels on the spectrum fall under pervasive developmental disorders on the DSM--yet this quote particularly caught my attention.

Anyway...

Thoughts?

http://www.diversityinc.com/public/4514.cfm

I usually call them by their names.

Whatever you want to call them if their disability is deafness.

Otherwise, um. Special? Does it really matter?

Wow...I thought there'd be people jumping all over this one. You know, the misconception that autism= mental retardation.

Apparently not. Well, just thought with name game over whether autism is a"disability","disorder", or "disease" this might be of interest.

Ironically, I actually think that semantically speaking "mental retardation" is a better descriptor for autism than "disability", "disorder", or "disease", but because the word "ret*d" has been corrupted to become a slur it is probably not a good one.

Technically speaking, autistics do have parts of their brain where certain development is ret*d (so do most people, but that's a different matter). Autism isn't necessarily a disability because it sometimes has advantages depending on how the person is affected. Calling it a disorder also implies that the other people are in order and I don't think that is the case. Calling it a disease has the same problem as calling it a disability.

The way I read the opening post, I thought this was focused on everyone with a disability (which likely includes everyone), instead of just autists. At this point I get bored of thinking about the semantics and think 'why do I need another term to call a person with a disability something?'

So my final answer is that the correct answer as to what you should call a person with a disability: (drumroll)

A person with a disability.

mental retardation is a developmental disability. the mentally ret*d who are able to express an opinion tend to prefer to be called 'developmentally disabled' over 'ret*d'. kinda like how people in wheelchairs would prefer 'handicapped' to 'crippled'. nothing to do with autism.

In the UK, we use the term "autistic spectrum condition". Autism is merely a neurological difference, certainly not a disease and only a disorder from a particular perspective. Whether it is (or, more precisely, causes) a disability is case-specific; while all autistic people meeting the diagnostic criteria are by definition impaired in some way, "disability" is not an unambiguous term, and these days refers to specific inabilities, such as the ability to climb stairs or to work 40 hours per week. However disability is defined, some autistic people will qualify, and others will not.