To be autistic or not to be?

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dont care about the language used,it's just words.
cant remember when last was called 'person with',if gp,support staff,specialists etc are referring to am as having autism they always use 'autistic'.

I don't know why, but "person with Autism" seems condescending to me. I feel incomplete, as if I'm broken, when someone says "person with Autism", rather than Autistic. Like someone said, it's separating the person from the Autism. Autism doesn't define me, but it certainly plays a major role in who I am, and I like who I am, so why would I want to be separated from it?

When people say "person with Autism", to me, it just sounds as though they're insecure and anxious about working or dealing with Autistics, so they try to ease their fears by reminding themselves that we ARE human, hence "Person with Autism". It takes the emphasis off Autism.

I sometimes wonder how someone would react if I were to call them a "Person with Neurotypicalism" or something similar, rather than just considering them a "normal" person like everyone else.

I don't like people holding preconceived notions about me, so I'd prefer to be called by my name. Autism doesn't explain much about me, no matter how pervasive it is.

No matter what label one chooses to slap onto oneself, one still is whatever one is, I guess. This is why I don't like labels.

I agree.

Yeah, or "person with normality", if they prefer that.

But it's difficult, because people have good reasons for either way of saying things.
If some say "autistic", others will say: "oh no, you make it sound like that's all I am and forget that I'm a person like other people".
If some say "person with autism" (not sure if it has to be capitalised in English, btw), others will ask why you have to say it's a person (as if not to forget it), or why you separate that part of you from your personality. So it's a bit difficult to know what people prefer, and how to put it.

As for me, it doesn't really matter if people say that I'm a person with AS, "an asperger" or an aspie. Autistic / autist? I think it would be misleading, people would think about Kanner's / LFA or so. But if I'm going to explain what AS is, I say that it's a condition on the autistic spectrum; you could say that I'm on the spectrum. Hmm or maybe a little bit autistic. But only a little bit.
Most often I just say that I have Asperger's syndrome, or that I'm diagnosed with it.

when they say 'person with x' it is supposed to be so that you see the person before the 'disability'.

This does happen to everything else as well, I'm sure say, a blind person would prefer 'blind person' to 'person with blindness'

Just call me Sid from my favourite movie. I usually go by my nickname. :O)

Autism is the noun, autistic is the adjective. Personally I don't see why we suddenly can't use a describing word to describe things. The meaning is exactly the same, so how could it possibly cause offence?

If anything, saying "The person with autism" makes the speaker look like an idiot, because they can't use an adjective properly.

The way to address groups of people changes so often, that you end up using terms that are offensive this week, but not next week.

Exactly. And that's why I wouldn't want to be called 'a person with autism' - because it implies that I have a disability.

I don't have a disability - I have a different version of neurology to that of 'typical' people.

I don't care at all! I am what I am, and I don't mind if anyone doesn't like that

I think it depends on whether you accept being called 'blonde' or 'brunette' or 'American' or 'genius' etc. too.

I don't like it, I feel it is incorrect if others say this about myself. I also dislike being called by my occupation or being called a 'winner' if I won something.

I don't know what they think when I say it. If I say it, I know that I mean a certain situation, reaction, aspect etc and I know exactly how it related to the rest of me.

Of course I do not know what they think when they insert 'person' too, but most people do not use 'person' to mean a specific set of characteristics and are wary about its meaning when asked.

The good thing about English is that many grammatical constructs don't allow 'autistic' to be used without a proper subject.

dont care if i find someting anoying by how they label me i tend to say "u try to label me,but im on my own label" or someting along those lines lol

I prefer autistic. I use it when speaking of my daughter or myself. "Person with autism" grates on my nerves. It doesn't put the person before the disability, all it does is broadcast that you believe autism to be a huge earth shattering disability and it focuses on that. And since I personally don't believe that for me, I don't like it used. Autism is just a part of who I am, so autistic fits just fine.

This is exactly my point. We don't say a person with creativity, we say a creative person. I also feel that it defines who I am. I am who I am because of the AS. I wouldn't be me without it.

In the case of blind and deaf people, they have had excellent lobbyists and they actually always are blind people or deaf people. They are a community and they identify with that community. That's what I'm saying.

I can understand that in the case of a disability that is say physical and not neurological, it is okay to say a perosn with. However, in this case, Autistic defines how my brain operates: The autism operating system.

You under No circumstances say a crippled guy instead of a guy with MS or CP or whatever. Although, amongst themselves they do say things that way, it's just not okay for the general public. I get that. We are different (get the pun, wasn't that punny? LOL) and therefore not in the category.

I never want this to be a debate like the "n" word debate. However, I also have alot of faith in just asking the person or having someone ask me which verbage they would like me to use.

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