• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Geek Club Books

Autism Education, Awareness, Acceptance, Advocacy

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Home
  • About
    • Autism Storytelling for Hope and Change
    • Speaking
    • Creative Team & Educational Specialists
    • Advisory Board
    • Our Benefactors
    • Press
    • Privacy Policy
    • Disclaimer
  • Blog
    • All Articles and Interviews
    • Articles By Author
  • Families
    • Welcome Autism Families!
    • Autism Resources Bundle!
    • Freebies
    • Mighty League Autism Moms
  • Educators
    • Welcome Educators!
    • Autism EDU
    • Bluebee TeeVee, Autism Information Station
    • School Visits
  • Comics
    • Autism Comics Overview
    • Autism in Real Life Comic
    • Autism Spectrum Comic
    • End Awareness Comic
    • Understanding Autism Comic
    • Mighty League 1: Autistic Hero Comic
    • Mighty League 2: Autistic Hero Comic Book
  • Resources
    • How to Find Resources
    • Asking Autistics
    • Autistic Self-care
    • Amazon Autism Book Shop
    • What is Autism?
    • Books By Autistic Authors
    • What is Autism Awareness?
    • Autism Glossary
    • Autism Myths
    • Autistic or Person with Autism?
    • Speech and Language
    • Autism Business Ideas
  • Zoom Magazine
    • Issue 18: The Black Autistic Experience
    • Issue 17: Health
    • Issue 16: Travel
    • Issue 15: Powerful Women
    • Issue 14: Trailblazers
    • Issue 13: Family
  • Take Action
    • How to Advocate for Autism
      • #Activate4Autism
      • Activator Heroes
    • Make a Difference
  • Contact
  • Donate

Autistic or Person with Autism?

Autistic or Person with Autism Header

What is Person-first Language?

Since the 1990s, professionals and parents have been strongly encouraged to use person-first language (person with autism or people with disabilities). The intention is to emphasize personhood and individuality rather than reducing someone to a diagnosis. Person-first language is nearly universal in medical, educational, and therapeutic settings.

What is Identity-first Language?

Most autistic people prefer identity-first language* (autistic adult or disabled person). They disagree with the idea that naming the condition first might cause others to overlook their humanity.

Why is Identity-first Important?

We use identity-first language for many other things, including nationality (I am American — I don’t have Americanness) and gender (I am female — I don’t have femaleness), without forgetting that Americans and women are, in fact, people. In English, person-first language is used for conditions that are temporary (I have a cold — but I won’t have it soon) or separate from a person’s identity (I have allergies — but if I didn’t, I would still be me)

Autism impacts everything about a person — how they think, what they enjoy, how they relate to others. As something so integral to their experience in the world, autism forms part of their identity. Had they gone through life as neurotypical, they would not be a neurotypical version of themselves but altogether different people.

*Researched and written by Lydia Wayman

How Does the #ActuallyAutistic Community Feel?

Christa Holmans, Neurodivergent Rebel, took a poll on Twitter to find out how her #ActuallyAutistic peers felt about identity- or person-first language. The results were overwhelmingly for identity-first language:

screen shot of twitter survey on autistic vs. person with autism

Here are more thoughts about how the autistic community feels about identity-first language:

Why use “Autistic” Over “Person with Autism”

We envision a world where autistic individuals are fully accepted and valued. They deserve to have a voice and we support their right to claim the narrative of their lives and control the terminology we use. We encourage parents, professionals and the community-at-large to adopt identity-first language moving forward. It’s an important step towards full acceptance.

More articles on language, labels and terminology:

  • Why the High-Low Labels are So Wrong by Rochelle Johnson
  • Why it’s Important to Unlabel Yourself by Robert Watkins
  • Taking Language for Granted by Rochelle Johnson

Autism Resources

Our website at Geek Club Books is a platform for autistic voices, positive autism advocacy and education, and sharing autism resources we think you’ll want to know about. In addition to our autistic-themed comic, here are topics we cover and questions we explore:

  • How to Find Resources
  • What is Autism?
  • What is Autism Awareness?
  • Autism Myths
  • Autism Glossary
  • Books by Autistic Authors
  • Autistic or Person with Autism?
  • Speech and Language
  • Autism Business Ideas
  • Autistic Self-Care
  • Asking Autistics Resource Page
  • Zoom Autism Magazine – Autism through many lenses
  • Find great books in our Amazon Book Shop
Share on TwitterShare on FacebookShare on PinterestShare on LinkedInShare on RedditShare on WhatsApp

Primary Sidebar

Join Our Neurodiverse Community:

Read Our Current Issue:

Search

Latest

  • Why My Autistic Daughter’s College Experience will be Better than Mine
  • Why I’m Letting Go to Let My Transformation Happen
  • #AskingAutistics: What Triggers Your Meltdowns?
  • #ReadYourWorld – How Does It Feel to Have Sensory Differences?
  • Why are Black Disabled Activists Being Ignored or Forgotten?

Topics

  • 501c3 Mission (8)
  • Anxiety (8)
  • App & Product Reviews (12)
  • Autimisms (29)
  • Autism Acceptance (13)
  • Autism at Work (9)
  • Autism Entrepreneurs (17)
  • Autism Resources (6)
  • Blog Haps (542)
  • Buzz (6)
  • Classroom (15)
  • Curious Interviews (117)
  • Day in the Life (9)
  • Dorktales (4)
  • Impactful Blogs (9)
  • Labels (4)
  • Love (5)
  • Mighty League (31)
  • Neurodiversity (2)
  • Our Personal Autism Journey (28)
  • Penfriend Project Autism Columns (221)
    • Adriana's Awesome Autistic Book Lists (2)
    • Aspierations (16)
    • Autism Insider (77)
    • Autistic Speaks (27)
    • Being Brave (26)
    • Chloe Rothschild (3)
    • Fidgets and Fries (3)
    • Happy Aspie (9)
    • My Shaynanigans (8)
    • Neurodivergent Rebel (21)
    • Positively Autistic (17)
    • Proud Autistic Living (6)
    • Tud Sense (5)
  • Pop Culture (8)
  • Safety (8)
  • Self-Care (7)
  • Self-Esteem (3)
  • Self-Improvement (10)
  • Sensory Needs (10)
  • Social Skills (4)
  • Speech and Language (6)
  • Tell Us Your Story (29)
  • Zoom Autism (64)

Footer

Stay Connected

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2021 Geek Club Books

To improve your experience on our site we may use cookies. Find out more.