Starting to resent the label "Aspie?"

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True, True, True.

I hate being an aspie

Except that some people would rather you put it together.

I propose dropping the letters altogether and calling ourselves "."

I always refer to myself as a "Trekkie". To me, "Trekker" (or "Trekkor") sounds just plain pretentious. It's like they're ashamed to be a Star Trek fan.

(Given some of the excesses that some Trek fans have shown, like showing up for jury duty wearing a Star Fleet uniform, I can understand why. Showing up for jury duty in a Star Fleet uniform is something *I* would do, but as a way of getting myself disqualified. This person was serious.)

I don't like "aspie" but it's so much easier to say than "person with AS"

i was on the hike/bike trails today when i overheard a conversation from two individuals who sounded NT. they were talking about someone they knew like, "oh yeah, she is one of those types of people"...etc. so i'm thinking NT's probably label other NT's Guess it's just a collective way of sorting people into specific groups.

Put what together?

Together: autistic person. Apart: person with autism.

That's the whole point though. You're not supposed to imply that they are defined by their condition. They are a person first, autistic second. Although I suppose different people have different preferences, the form that is considered to be more sensitive is "person with autism." It's meant to discourage seeing people with a certain condition solely as a member of that group, to emphasize their individuality.

I mean, clearly, just to read the posts on this board, that is a real problem. It is too easy for professionals to form a single mental image of what being "autistic" means, and thus not be open to the wide variety of expressions it encompasses. In speech pathology, it is also important to remember to customize your therapy for each individual client. For instance, if you have a nonspeaking client with autism, you don't just slap a bunch of crappy PECS cards into their hands- you evaluate their environment, their level of understanding of symbolic representation, what their day-to-day needs are, etc. They may communicate better with color photographs of things in their environment than with crappy, abstract, black-and-white drawings that are meaningless to them. Or they may be ready to begin spelling out words. You don't know until you treat them as an individual, rather than solely as a member of a group.

"Aspie", "Aspergian", "person with aspergers" etc. I would be thrilled if they would just remember my name.

You know, this sounds a lot like the discussions over 'brainstorm' that was held a while ago.

Actually, I don't think Asperger's should necessarily be pronounced with the native German pronunciation of "gerr's", because this term "Asperger's" was brought into popular culture not through German culture but through an anglicized route and so it can be argued that the Asperger's should be pronounced with the anglicized "jer's" like "Folger's" rather than "gerr's."

Yes, I know. I don't really care what anybody calls me, though. The approach is what is important.
I'm of the mindset that if somebody is trying to figure out the most nonoffensive label for me, they are NOT thinking about how best to bridge the gap between me and them.

If you'd ever worked with people with disabilities though, you'd realize how strong the connection is between the language professionals use and their attitudes towards their clients. Trust me, someone who says, "He's PDD" or "She's sensory" is probably not going to have the most helpful mindset. They're the type who blames every bump in the road on the person's disability, rather than stepping back and looking at their approach as the professional. The key to therapy is, if something isn't working, you need to figure out where the miscommunication is and modify *your* approach. You shouldn't be saying, "Geez, this kid is so low-functioning! It's impossible to teach him anything!"

I'm sure that a lot of that is simply their language reflecting their attitude, but it can't hurt to remember to use the proper language as a reminder to have the proper attitude. Anyway, once you get into the habit, that's it. Get into the habit of using the right language, which should be drilled into you during grad school, and get into the mindset of treating the person as an individual. It's not like your clinician is obsessing about the correct language to use, and is therefore not focused on your treatment, or something like that.

How many people have you heard pronounce it that way? I have *never* heard anyone pronounce it with a "j" sound, and I've been around a lot of professionals who work with Aspies and auties. Both my parents are psychologists who have worked with Aspies, and they pronounced it with a "g" sound as well.

The word "Freudian" is also anglicized, but no one says, "froodian".