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Autism researchers face off over negative terminology and attitudes

Steven

'According to some autism researchers, the field still too often defaults to terms with negative connotations. In a recent survey of 195 autism researchers, 60% of responses included views about autistic people the study authors deemed dehumanising, objectifying, or stigmatising. Some responses described autistic people as “shut down from the outside world” or “completely inexpressive and apparently without emotions,” according to the Frontiers in Psychology study. “What is worse than I thought," says psychologist Monique Botha, "was how blatant a lot of the content was; which shows that, for a large proportion of participants, they did not consider the things they were saying to be problematic at all."' 

More:

www.science.org/.../disorder-or-difference-autism-researchers-face-over-field-s-terminology

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  • Getting it 'right' in  terms of language usage and research is,IMO,like walking blindfold  through a minefield packed with criticism and disapproval. A self selected group of autistic people setting themselves up  as arbiters of what should be said and done.

  • in reply to Deleted User

    The thing is, language is powerful; words are powerful. It's ok unintentionally to get things wrong, as long as we recognise that harm done, acknowledge the impact made, and learn from that. I think it's important that marginalised people, who have been disempowered for so long, should have their right respected to describe themselves and be described by others as they want and need to be described. For me that's what it's about: power and lack of it. Those of us with more power (white, middle class people, in my case) need to be sensitive to that.

  • in reply to sphynx

    I stopped being m/class a long time ago. I'm  not w/class either. I'm far from powerful. The social drift effect of  severe mental illness, and undiagnosed  for decades ASD/Asperger's,put paid to that. In fact I'm way down the totem pole of power.

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