Autistic or person with autism? SURVEY

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Person with....anything seems too lengthy. Autistic is much more "to the pointe".
Look at the wasted time it would take to call me...
A person with Sensory Processing Deficit,
A person with a hearing impairment,
A person who is vertically challenged,
A person who is horizontally robust,
the list could go on and on.

I have autism

That's what I use. So, I guess "he has autism" if someone is referring to me and why I'm behaving oddly (it's usually the autism ).

I don't care, though.

I couldn't care less. Pointless semantics to me.

I don't think it is semantics at all. It stems from times when a person with a physical disability was a 'cripple' or a 'spastic' and the terminology was anything but inclusive. Difference is still treated appallingly in many many places with the emphasis placed in the impairment and not the fact that the illness/disability/impairment is actually a person, a human being like everybody else.

The person first movement, whilst I agree being somewhat problematic, was a conscious effort to remind ignorant or uninformed people that the person was more than their condition. In that respect, I applauded the idea in principle, but in practice I accept it isn't that simple. There are also problems when 'neurotypical' people insist that is the only way a person can identify and ignore the right of a person to self-identify; I have genuinely seen this. I identify as Autistic, in the same way that some LGBTI people self-identify as 'Queer', in that my autism is such a fundamental part of who I am that it cannot be seperated - or indeed cured - from me as a person. Autistic Pride if you like. If you still have to be reminded that I am a person, regardless of my diagnosis, then you are an idiot, but please don't loose sight of the fact that it isn't that long ago that we had to scream and shout to have people see us as such.

I mean absolutely no disrespect in this next comment, but being older than some on here I have lived through some ignorant times with regards to disability rights and can attest to the fact that words do matter. I do not claim any extra understanding of life by way of my age, merely that I have lived through times when a 'person with autism/autistic person' would have been excluded from mainstream schooling, written off as a waste of funding and seen as a burden to society. Terminology is key to bringing about changes to society on a political level which then filter down into everyday life.

We are seeing improvements, slow I accept, but change nonetheless. The fact that people feel comfortable to not think it matters is in some ways progress, but lets not forget the fight and the struggle that other have fought to get us to this situation.

Respice, Prospice, Aspice: Examine the past, look closely at the present and then look forward to the future. I used to be a person with autism but now I am proudly autistic. For me, that matters.

I would havbe to disagree to apoint about this for this reason:

Most people who do this are condescending a**holes who think that it can't be dealt with without 'softening the terms'. I, like you, have lived long enough that what is considered viable today will be view negatively in the future.

Been around long enough to go from "n****r, to negro (Which is English for 'black'), to colored, to black, to African-American (and it's offshoot of "Afro-American), back to black, to person of color (Which is actually the same thing as 'colored person', just using that same 'reversal crap' crap we are discussing here), and it goes on and on and on..... The first term is definitely racist and was used to diminish a person on all levels. All other terms have floated in and out through my lifetime and is replaced because of perceived biases.

Many of them are just variations on the same word. So, that strikes me as just hypocritical.

And, the filtering doesn't seem to start from the top. It seems to just happen organically. I mean, the people at the top didn't change the language on race. It was the people in the middle who did that.

Basically, it's just chasing words because whatever is acceptable today, will almost certainly not be acceptable tomorrow because that new word is inheriting the negativity of the idea, not the word itself.

I would respect whatever someone told me was their preference. When referring to myself I would say "autistic" as it's shorter! To me, "person with..." sounds like it means it's something I could get rid of one day! Like, "Oh, shall I put my autism down on the floor for the time being?"

Just to clarify, are you calling me a condescending a**hole? (I didn't censor that word, it did it automatically)

Absolutely not lumping you in with that. I am calling the idiots that want to 'make the world' safe from words a**holes. There is polite, impolitic but accurate and then the words that are just wrong. I definitely fall in the 'impolitic but accurate' area.

There is polite and then there is thought control.

I have seen it run amok. Had a co-worker that was offended when I told her that her computer wasn't working because of 'disabled inits'. She informed that was offensive and they should be referred to as (and I am not making this up) 'handicapped inits'.

So, yeah, those well meaning a**holes. And, it is getting worse with all the politically correct crap. Seriously? "Herstory" vs. History?

"Hand me the spade."
"What? That's offensive...call it a shovel."
"No, the shovel is the squared off end. I need the spade, the one that is pointy so it can dig. I need to dig the ditch...."
"What did you call me?"

I open the door for people, especially if their hands are full. Been told in very aggressive terms to not hold a door open because they were female.

But here's the stupid part...I held it open for the guy in front of her because his hands were full, but she was so full of herself and had to 'correct the male of the species' that she didn't notice the man in front of her.

And, men are just as bad. Those are just examples off the top of my head. Those are all real examples.

People are stupid......

PS, I went back and read the post I made....more of my communications errors. I can see why it was a messed up sentence.

Thank you for asking and not assuming

No problem, I just wanted to make sure.

I don't think we disagree that much you know; I have faced the type of situation you describe and was told I shouldn't use the term 'autistic' as it was disrespectful. Thankfully I burst out laughing and pointed out that I could call myself anything I wanted! I was furious later though.

The point I was trying to make was that some of us, 'silver surfers' remember times when there weren't 'reasonable adjustments', which has to be an improvement. I accept what you say about taking things too far, but I really do believe that words play apart. Oftentimes, you have to start with a 'big stick' on some people whereas you can win the hearts and minds of other more enlightened human beings by pointing out the truth. I know I have been called naive in the past, and maybe I am, but I hope that by changing language, we can change outcomes.

As a child in the 1960's I recall signs in the windows of guest houses of my home city in England that said, "No Blacks, No Irish and No Dole" (Dole being unemployment benefits) The fact that they no longer appear doesn't mean the hate has gone, absolutely agree, but once upon a time that was deemed acceptable, now it isn't. I hope it will be the same with disability rights.

Take care.

Well, you are far more reasonable in your approach than I am. LOL

I would have gotten offended first, thrown in some really salty language and then laughed later once I got a chance to distance myself....I dunno...but yeah, I get what you're saying about the words change, but the underlying things do not.

What I also hate is when people try to get 'cute' with the words. Heard this one while down in Ga over the holidays:
"Well, as they say these days, 'There's a colored gentleman in the woodpile."

Just made me cringe......
But, here's the kicker, those people would give you the shirt off their back and are just not mean at all. I have never seen them do anything racist at all. Just the language hasn't caught up.

But, thanks again for questioning and not accusing. I really make a mess of things sometimes and that little courtesy actually means the world to me.

I open doors for ladies all the time. Very rarely do they get offended. You must live with a bunch of PC nuts!

It's just bad luck in your life that you have to run into these sorts of people.

You know, I've been fortunate for two reasons:
1) My profession allows for that 'eccentric' crap as long as it's beneficial

2) Most types I am around (or used to be when younger) were mostly artsy, 'progressive' people.

But it seems these days they are the people doing the worst damage with this dogmatic approach.

But yeah, I seem to be a magnet for such interactions.

Even most feminists and women of alternative sexuality might just laugh at the gesture. I don't think you're a magnet. I just think you run into overly political people who have axes to grind. Nothing to do with you personally.

Yeah, I agree with that.

For instance I can totally bollix up communications. Dunno why. I'm a pretty smart guy, but I can really make a mess of things when it comes to language.

Had one person here that could have taken a comment out of context and laid into me. But this person did the best thing possible. Questioned it and gave me a chance to correct the mistake. Really made my day better. I mean, when I went back and read what I had written (and the qualifiers that were left out) that person had every right to get defensive and even angry. And, what was sad, is that I proofread it. But until a contextual difference was made apparent, I didn't spot it.

Why can't people just be more like that? Just stop assuming that everything is negative and just speak plainly. I make mistakes, but when people come at me, I get real defensive and the language skills just go down the drain.

I absolutely agree.