Joe90 wrote:
I do get irked about people having to change the English language slightly to include the small minority of transgender people (in other words to make them happy) but people with autism are still allowed to be treated terribly and discriminated against, even though there are probably more autistic people on this planet than there are people who think they're genderless.
There's debates now on teachers having to say "children" instead of "boys and girls", stuff like that. At work there are more men than women and the men always call us all "chaps" or "guys" or "lads", but I don't care and I'm not going to waste my energy demanding them to say "people" or whatever.
With how things are going in this society, in 50 years time we probably won't be allowed to say "people" any more in case it offends people who don't identify as a human. It's sometimes hard to live in a world with words that suit every single neurotype/sexuality/race, etc. Sometimes you've just got to not take words so seriously and move on with your life.
There are people like most autistics that get treated diabolically throughout their lives, and I mean treated disgustingly, and we've just got to accept that it's because we're a minority and that NTs aren't obliged to understand us, but then there's some of the genderless people whining about a pronoun that's been used for thousands of years and is harmless.
Using inclusive language is really not much of a burden. Being able to use “they” and “them” can even make things easier in specific grammatical contexts.
“People” is a gender neutral term and will not need tweaking.
It’s relatively easy to adjust one’s language to be more inclusive. It can be challenging (and expensive) to make other adjustments, though. Hopefully, there will continue to be more supports for people on the Spectrum.
It is neither challenging nor expensive to treat Autistic people with kindness, consideration, dignity, and respect. People just don't want to and that is the problem.
12 Jul 2022, 10:57 am
