Person First Language, Why It’s Not For Me

So, should I be referred to as an autistic person or as a person with autism? Well, as a person with Irishness and a person with masculinity I would like to give my opinion on this!

My own preference is to be called an autistic person, but if somebody says person with autism out of habit I’m not really bothered and probably wouldn’t even feel the need to correct them. However, if a different autistic person’s preference is “person with autism” then that should be respected also. However, as a person with left handedness I would like to explain why I don’t like person first language for myself, if somebody calls me a person with autism because they think there is something bad about the phrase “autistic person”, I would like to explain why this is not so.

I don’t have autism, I am autistic. If you were to remove the parts of my brain that were specifically affected by autism, well, I’d be dead, but if you were to remove all of the autistic parts of my brain and replace them with neurotypical parts, I would not be the same person I am now. My senses are different because I’m autistic, I experience the world differently because of it. My communication and understanding of language are different, I experience human interaction differently because of it. My ability to hyperfocus and develop intense interests in things mean my hobbies, and my overall goals are different because of it. There is no “me” without autism.

It would make sense to call me a person with asthma (though I wouldn’t be in the least bothered if I was referred to as an asthmatic person), because if a cure was developed for asthma tomorrow, I would take it. My asthma isn’t even that bad, but when there’s a global pandemic and you get an asthma attack you tend to fear the worst! Asthma is a slight inconvenience, it plays no part in my life that I wouldn’t be happy to get rid of. But getting rid of my autism is getting rid of me. If I was no longer autistic, my friends and family would wonder who is this stranger who is now in their lives, even though the stranger would look the same as me.

So, to reiterate, if out of pure habit you say person with autism, I’m not bothered. But I wanted to discuss fairly important philosophical reasons why I am an autistic person, I have always been and I always will. “Person with autism” implies I would still be me if I was no longer autistic, while “autistic person” explains that I am the person I am because of my autism. So I hope all people, whether they be a person of neurotypicality, a person of Frenchness, or a person of tallness found this post interesting!