Person-First Language
When I talk about disability, I'm not really all that concerned about language. I really don't care what the flavor of the month is to skip around and be politically correct, and when I say "mentally retarded" to mean IQ<70 and problems with daily living, chances are I mean the exact same thing as somebody being politically correct and saying, "person with a developmental delay".
It's not that I want to offend anybody or anything; it's just that I don't think language matters all that much. I think the whole skipping-around-the-issue political correctness is just plain stupid. It's an effort to respect people with disabilities that at the same time stigmatizes the disability.
I really hate person-first language. I'm not "a person with autism"... I'm just autistic. Autism isn't a shirt I can take off at will; it's part of who I am, with all its plusses and minuses. When somebody says "person with autism", it always seems to say to me, "We're going to be nice about this; because if we said 'autistic', we'd mean 'your disability is a part of you', so we're going to say it in a way that says we think you just happen to have this disability, and it doesn't affect you at all".
But it does affect me. It is part of who I am. That would be true even if it were 'only' a physical disability; any difference large enough to be called a disability inevitably does affect who you are.
Why pretend that a disability is incidental when it isn't? Why pretend it's just some small addition tacked on to a person when it actually affects the whole life to some degree or another?
Because people apparently think it's polite to pretend the disability is less important than it is, to pretend--in a way--that it doesn't exist. But what does that imply? Right--that having a disabilty is shameful; something that ought to be hidden.
We used to hide disabled people behind closed doors. Now we hide them behind politically correct language!
Disability never made anybody inferior, no matter how you say it; there's no shame in being autistic. And why should I try to distance myself from my autism, if there's nothing to be ashamed of? I'm autistic just like I'm female, brown-haired, and short; and none of those makes me any less of a person. Different, yes; disabled, sometimes; but what does that have to do with being human? Not a darn thing.
It's not that I want to offend anybody or anything; it's just that I don't think language matters all that much. I think the whole skipping-around-the-issue political correctness is just plain stupid. It's an effort to respect people with disabilities that at the same time stigmatizes the disability.
I really hate person-first language. I'm not "a person with autism"... I'm just autistic. Autism isn't a shirt I can take off at will; it's part of who I am, with all its plusses and minuses. When somebody says "person with autism", it always seems to say to me, "We're going to be nice about this; because if we said 'autistic', we'd mean 'your disability is a part of you', so we're going to say it in a way that says we think you just happen to have this disability, and it doesn't affect you at all".
But it does affect me. It is part of who I am. That would be true even if it were 'only' a physical disability; any difference large enough to be called a disability inevitably does affect who you are.
Why pretend that a disability is incidental when it isn't? Why pretend it's just some small addition tacked on to a person when it actually affects the whole life to some degree or another?
Because people apparently think it's polite to pretend the disability is less important than it is, to pretend--in a way--that it doesn't exist. But what does that imply? Right--that having a disabilty is shameful; something that ought to be hidden.
We used to hide disabled people behind closed doors. Now we hide them behind politically correct language!
Disability never made anybody inferior, no matter how you say it; there's no shame in being autistic. And why should I try to distance myself from my autism, if there's nothing to be ashamed of? I'm autistic just like I'm female, brown-haired, and short; and none of those makes me any less of a person. Different, yes; disabled, sometimes; but what does that have to do with being human? Not a darn thing.