"Person-with" language
I have Asperger's Syndrome. At various times I say I am an Aspie, I am autistic, I am on the autism spectrum, I have an autism spectrum disorder or I have Asperger's Syndrome. I generally don't bother to use "person with" language and I don't say that I have autism or that I am a person with autism. I don't insist that other people call themselves "autistic person." If another person wants to call themselves "person with autism" I'm not going to try to stop them.
I've found that a lot of people seem to have a problem with this. I hear from people -- mainly parents of autistic children -- who insist that I absolutely positively HAVE TO say "person with autism." I must never ever ever ever say "autistic." "Autistic" is a bad word. I must always always always focus on the PERSON. "Person first," they say. Yet this is how I refer to myself. Why do they have a problem with how I refer to myself?
Granted, when I write about autism I generally write about "autistic people." That's me. That's the way I write. I figure that if people don't like it, they don't have to read my LJ or my autism blog.
However, I've come across a problem. I belong to an autistic writers' group affiliated with a local university, and we are going to publish an autism journal. It's an academic journal sponsored by the university, and we have a set of guidelines to follow if we submit writing. One of the guidelines is that we use "person first" language. We are supposed to say "persons with autism."
I wrote the project director and informed him that "autistic person" rather than "person with autism" is how I refer to myself and is the terminology I use in my writing to refer to myself and to people like me. I asked him if this would be a problem. He told me we can discuss it at the next meeting, but I have the feeling this may be a problem as he always uses "people with autism" at our meetings.
He said that the disability centre always says that we must use "person first" language. I've seen their guidelines, and to me they're a bit ridiculous. These guidelines insist that it is better to say "person with a visual impairment" rather than saying that someone is blind. They say we should use the term "person with a hearing impairment" rather than saying "deaf."
I want to be published in this journal, but I have serious reservations about it if I have to follow someone else's guidelines about how I refer to myself.
I've found that a lot of people seem to have a problem with this. I hear from people -- mainly parents of autistic children -- who insist that I absolutely positively HAVE TO say "person with autism." I must never ever ever ever say "autistic." "Autistic" is a bad word. I must always always always focus on the PERSON. "Person first," they say. Yet this is how I refer to myself. Why do they have a problem with how I refer to myself?
Granted, when I write about autism I generally write about "autistic people." That's me. That's the way I write. I figure that if people don't like it, they don't have to read my LJ or my autism blog.
However, I've come across a problem. I belong to an autistic writers' group affiliated with a local university, and we are going to publish an autism journal. It's an academic journal sponsored by the university, and we have a set of guidelines to follow if we submit writing. One of the guidelines is that we use "person first" language. We are supposed to say "persons with autism."
I wrote the project director and informed him that "autistic person" rather than "person with autism" is how I refer to myself and is the terminology I use in my writing to refer to myself and to people like me. I asked him if this would be a problem. He told me we can discuss it at the next meeting, but I have the feeling this may be a problem as he always uses "people with autism" at our meetings.
He said that the disability centre always says that we must use "person first" language. I've seen their guidelines, and to me they're a bit ridiculous. These guidelines insist that it is better to say "person with a visual impairment" rather than saying that someone is blind. They say we should use the term "person with a hearing impairment" rather than saying "deaf."
I want to be published in this journal, but I have serious reservations about it if I have to follow someone else's guidelines about how I refer to myself.