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conuly
somebody else is bound to pipe up "OMG! Use person first language!"
And I'm sure I've shared my opinion of person first language with you, but to recap:
It's counterproductive and, ironically, stigmatizing.
It's insulting in its very premise. (If you need to speak funny to remember that people are people, the language isn't the problem.)
With regards to autism, it's just plain silly. (How is changing my brain or yours going to keep us the same person? Absurd!)
Anyway, there probably are better things to worry about.
The last is why I rarely say anything. Honestly, silly though I find PFL to be, I don't really care. If you prefer to use it, go for it. If it can apply to you, and you want me to use it, I'll try to remember when talking to or about you. (But not about me. There, I draw the line. I think that's fair.) So long as you're being polite and respectful and understanding, I don't particularly care what words you use. I'm not going to play language cop unless you're really being offensive, in which case I'll either point out that that word is inappropriate (if you probably don't realize) or yell at you for having no manners (if you probably do).
However, if you pipe into somebody else's discussion a sanctimonious little comment about how They Are People, then all bets are off, because that's just really annoying.
Here is an editorial about a woman whose autistic child stopped speaking at two.
The language used within the editorial is pretty offensive, I'm thinking, so I'm tucking it behind a cut:
My son was gone — there was no spark in his face, no sign of life, just dead eyes.
So, dozens of comments down the line, the whole conversation has dissolved into "OMG! VACCINES!", I've left two comments or so on the subject, and here's one person who feels it's oh-so-necessary to point out "they are children* first, not a disability".
But, you know, none of the OTHER rude things said concern her at all! Talk about missing the forest for the trees!
(Also, you don't have to read the comments (and you probably don't want to, it's all same-old, same-old, very boring), but you could be a big help by commenting that you're an autistic adult, especially if you happen to be in your 50s or older. Some people are saying quite certainly that you simply don't happen to exist at all!)
*Yeah, I know. See my parenthetical.
And I'm sure I've shared my opinion of person first language with you, but to recap:
It's counterproductive and, ironically, stigmatizing.
It's insulting in its very premise. (If you need to speak funny to remember that people are people, the language isn't the problem.)
With regards to autism, it's just plain silly. (How is changing my brain or yours going to keep us the same person? Absurd!)
Anyway, there probably are better things to worry about.
The last is why I rarely say anything. Honestly, silly though I find PFL to be, I don't really care. If you prefer to use it, go for it. If it can apply to you, and you want me to use it, I'll try to remember when talking to or about you. (But not about me. There, I draw the line. I think that's fair.) So long as you're being polite and respectful and understanding, I don't particularly care what words you use. I'm not going to play language cop unless you're really being offensive, in which case I'll either point out that that word is inappropriate (if you probably don't realize) or yell at you for having no manners (if you probably do).
However, if you pipe into somebody else's discussion a sanctimonious little comment about how They Are People, then all bets are off, because that's just really annoying.
Here is an editorial about a woman whose autistic child stopped speaking at two.
The language used within the editorial is pretty offensive, I'm thinking, so I'm tucking it behind a cut:
My son was gone — there was no spark in his face, no sign of life, just dead eyes.
So, dozens of comments down the line, the whole conversation has dissolved into "OMG! VACCINES!", I've left two comments or so on the subject, and here's one person who feels it's oh-so-necessary to point out "they are children* first, not a disability".
But, you know, none of the OTHER rude things said concern her at all! Talk about missing the forest for the trees!
(Also, you don't have to read the comments (and you probably don't want to, it's all same-old, same-old, very boring), but you could be a big help by commenting that you're an autistic adult, especially if you happen to be in your 50s or older. Some people are saying quite certainly that you simply don't happen to exist at all!)
*Yeah, I know. See my parenthetical.
