I am autistic, an autist, not a “person with autism” (beehaw.org)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I don't like being referred to as a "person with autism". I can't just set it down, it's not something I can remove. It is fundamental to the way I interact with the world, right down to how stim enters my brain. If my brain has types of inputs no allistic person can even approach, and methods of processing inherently different, it is an existence no allistic person can reach. There is no version of me that is not autistic.

A "cure" is the same as shooting me and replacing me with someone else.

The type of person I am is autistic. I am autistic.

I know it is a big trend in anarchist spaces to use person first language, but in many situations that just sounds like eugenics to me. Personhood is not some distinct universal experience. There is no “ideal human mind” floating out there in the aether for them to recognize in me.

I get that person first language helps some people recognize that thoughts happen behind my eyes, but if the only way they can do that is by imagining I’m them, I don’t care.

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[-] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago

The difference between referring to " people"and referring to people as "" is one of those things you can't unhear once you start hearing it, too. It reduces people to a particular facet as though it's the only thing that matters about them.

When somebody says something like "the thing about blacks is..." or "I work with a bipolar, he always..." it makes one clench: the thing about to be said is definitely going to be ignorant and possibly hurtful or bigoted. Just say " people" or "people with " if you don't want people to automatically assume that you view people only as what you perceive as their most important attribute.

this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2024

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