Published on 12, July, 2020
How do y'all feel about an autistic person identifying as an "aut*st" or calling their autistic friends they have close relationships with the same word? My autistic friend prefers it because he says it is "taking the word back", but only autistic people can use it. He likens it to the n-word or h*llbilly.
Personally, I agree with him. In fact, I designed a shirt that says "All my friends are aut*sts" (but actually spelled out without the astrix). It's from a running personal joke where I was completely unaware I was autistic and just thought I liked autistic people, which is why I would say, "All my friends are autistic." Using the word "aut*sts" in the shirt would be an indirect way of disclosing my autism flavor since only autistic people can use it. Would this shirt be offensive?
I've only ever heard the word autist used in a positive way as a shorthand for autistic people. Has it been used as the same kind of slur as the N word?
I actually find person first language highly offensive, because as I understand it, it's based on the premise of emphasing that people are people first and more than their disability. I find the idea that someone needs to change how they speak to remind themself that I am a human being rather unpleasant. That they see autism as something so disturbing and frightening that they have to say person first so that I won't be marginalised. In contrast, nobody feels the need to say "person with tallness" or "person with Britishness." If I say someone is a tall person, it doesn't immediately conjure up an image of a skyscraper or a giant. We understand that tallness is just one of many characteristics. By putting the disability second, it actually presents more as a pathology.
Thank you for sharing this. I have never read this point of view. I only read about the person first thing as a way that some people prefer.