• They use Person First Language and forget our humanity. Amy Sequenzia on Ollibean

The Gymnastics of Person First Language

by Amy Sequenzia This post is about Person First Language and autism. Another title for this post could be: "Disability Language, and "Gymnastics". Some might find part of it funny, but I am not kidding. I wrote about why I believe Person First Language (PFL) is ableist, and how individual choices should be respected - the "individual" being the disabled person. Person First Language and Autism Most independent-thinking Autistic adults prefer Identity First Language (IFL). Some use Person First Language and their choice should be respected. This post is directed to non-autistics, to the media, and to autism advocacy organizations

  • Picture of flowers with two boxes. Text in first box reads: "Identity First: I AM DISABLED. I AM AUTISTIC. I AM FEMALE. I AM AWESOME. " Text in second box reads: Person First: I AM A PERSON WITH A DISABILITY. I AM A PERSON WHO HAS AUTISM. I AM A PERSON WITH FEMALENESS. I AM A PERSON WITH AWESOMESOMENESS. " Amy Sequenzia on Ollibean.Ollibean logo is a circle made up of equal signs of varying shapes and sizes.

Person First Language and Ableism

by Amy Sequenzia If you are not Disabled and you are demanding the use of Person First Language (PFL), you are being ableist. If you are Disabled and you are demanding that other Disabled people use Person First Language, you are being ableist. If you are Disabled and want to use Person First Language when referring to yourself, I will respect that. I will also respect your right to demand that other people use Person First Language when referring to you. But the Person First Language concept is ableist, and I can tell you why. I do know the

Talking to Autism “Advocacy” Organizations

I had the opportunity to speak, as a public comment, during a meeting of the Autism Society, Florida Chapter. It applies mostly to the National leadership because I think it is past time for some things to change. What I said might not have pleased everyone, and it might have made some angry. But I stand by the words - compliance is not my goal. It needed to be said though, not only to the Autism Society but to all organizations that say they “advocate” for autism. If an organization wants to help, it should not advocate for things Autistics

  • Image description: Light turquoise , salmon amd fuscia rectangle colorblock. White text reads: Thanks to you information has been recorded in this thread that others may find valuable if they would like to know what some of us autistic adults think and write about in regards to the use of person first language versus the use of the word autistic. Judy Endow Ollibean"

Are You a Bully in Sheep’s Clothing?

On Dec. 16, 2013 I wrote a blog titled “Autistics Can BE Friends” and posted the link on social media sites. Regardless of how often or how many of us autistics write about why many of us choose to call ourselves autistic many in academia and in the medical fields continue on to let us know we “should not” be doing this. I am including in this blog a public conversation I had with a Linked In reader on this matter. The entire conversation had nothing to do with the blog I had posted – only the fact that I

  • For us, autism is not simply an add on to our personhood, but is in fact, foundational to our identity. Judy Endow

Person First Attitude Trumps Language

Am I a person with autism or autistic? Does it matter? And why?

Person-First Language – ‘autistic’ vs. ‘with autism’

There is some debate about using the term ‘autistic child’ vs. ‘child with autism’, the latter being an example of what is typically referred to as ‘person-first language’. As you may have noticed, I typically use ‘autistic’. There are plenty of strong o

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