Is It Person with Autism or Autistic Person?

    A few weeks ago an autistic person took issue with the fact that I used "person with autism" and "autistic person" interchangeably. The autistic person said that saying "person with autism" was like saying a black person was a "person with blackness" or a gay person was like saying a "person with homosexuality." This is an age-old debate in the autism community of person-first vs identity-first language. Many parents prefer person or child with autism while many adult, particular those in the neurodiverity movement, prefer autistic person. Autism is an identity to those who prefer autistic person

    All these arguments are flawed.

1. It is not "black person", but African-   American. It is not person with    homosexuality, but gay, lesbian, bi, and transgender (LGBT or LGBTQ)

2. What the autistic person did was        discriminatory. To not want to have         anything to do with anyone because of one's choice of words is just pain            discriminatory. 

    The autistic person could claim they have freedom of speech or freedom of belief Article 30 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a pivotal document in international human rights, states, "Nothing in this declaration may be interpreted as for any  state, group, or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of the rights and freedoms set forth herein."

    For example, hate groups who sometimes preach overt or covert discrimination might claim free speech under articles 18 & 19, but that free speech is really aimed at the destruction of article 16 regarding discrimination based on region, race, or other opinion.

    So is it "person with autism," or "autistic person?" I do not think it matters because each person needs to decide for himself or herself what language they are going to use.

Thanks for reading my post. Please leave a comment, whether you agree or disagree to drum up some discussion. Thank you!