Yesterday I made a lot of retorts for person-first crusaders. Today I want to talk about who that's really directed at.
If you are a person with autism and prefer to be called at, it's not directed at you.
If you are talking about someone else who prefers that, it's not directed at you.
If you are an autistic person and you use them interchangeably, either because you don't care or because you have trouble with being consistent, it's not directed at you.
If you have any sort of impairment that makes it hard or impossible to remember who wants autistic person and who wants person with autism and to use the right one with the right person, it's not directed at you.
If you just didn't know my preference, it's not directed at you. I'll probably let you know what my preference is, but you're not on the receiving end of these sarcastic replies.
If you are new to all things autism and just don't know what people prefer to be called, but are aware that you don't know and aren't correcting people on what they call themselves, this isn't directed at you.
That said:
If you are writing an article about me ever, you are expected to do basic research. If you're quoting my blog, you've seen it, which means you know my preference. As such, if you are quoting my blog in an article and call me a person with autsm, this is at least semi-directed at you.
And if you actually are a person-first crusader, this is very much directed at you.
If you have ever said, "You mean you are a person with autism; your disability does not define you," to an Autistic person, that is the exact phrase I am making retorts to. This is directed at you.
If you have ever said anything like that, this is directed at you.
If you think that we call ourselves Autistic because we don't know better, this is directed at you.
We know why person with autism is used, and we reject it anyways.
If you can't accept that we really do know what we are doing when we call ourselves Autistic, then this is directed at you. Go read the retorts, then sit down and think.
If you are a person with autism and prefer to be called at, it's not directed at you.
If you are talking about someone else who prefers that, it's not directed at you.
If you are an autistic person and you use them interchangeably, either because you don't care or because you have trouble with being consistent, it's not directed at you.
If you have any sort of impairment that makes it hard or impossible to remember who wants autistic person and who wants person with autism and to use the right one with the right person, it's not directed at you.
If you just didn't know my preference, it's not directed at you. I'll probably let you know what my preference is, but you're not on the receiving end of these sarcastic replies.
If you are new to all things autism and just don't know what people prefer to be called, but are aware that you don't know and aren't correcting people on what they call themselves, this isn't directed at you.
That said:
If you are writing an article about me ever, you are expected to do basic research. If you're quoting my blog, you've seen it, which means you know my preference. As such, if you are quoting my blog in an article and call me a person with autsm, this is at least semi-directed at you.
And if you actually are a person-first crusader, this is very much directed at you.
If you have ever said, "You mean you are a person with autism; your disability does not define you," to an Autistic person, that is the exact phrase I am making retorts to. This is directed at you.
If you have ever said anything like that, this is directed at you.
If you think that we call ourselves Autistic because we don't know better, this is directed at you.
We know why person with autism is used, and we reject it anyways.
If you can't accept that we really do know what we are doing when we call ourselves Autistic, then this is directed at you. Go read the retorts, then sit down and think.
And if someone doesn't know better, but it really matters to them, in my experience they generally end up coming up with their preferred language style on their own. There are oodles of examples of people coming up with new terminology because they want to describe things about themselves.
ReplyDelete"You mean you are a person with autism; your disability does not define you."
ReplyDeleteSomebody once said the sentence above to me, and I replied with, "Of course it doesn't since much of it is caused by society. But I define me, and I choose to define myself as an Autistic person. Please respect that choice if you truly believe me to be capable of making my own choices."