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[strawberry_dolly]

hi everyone! i'm not autistic but id like to discuss something.

i noticed this on the "read before posting" section:

∞ "Autistic person" instead "person with Autism", just like you wouldn't say "person with gay"

i find it weird that this is a rule. i know quite a few people that would prefer person with [autism, depression, etc] rather than an [autistic, depressed, etc] person. they reason that saying things like "autistic person" can make it seem as though the person's only point of importance and defining feature is their disorder and reducing them down to just that. it can seem demeaning. however, i also see people arguing for the other side ("autistic person"), as they can see this as reclaiming the term and being proud of who they are. this description is highly stigmatized though and can bring about a lot of discrimination.

so my question is: which do you guys prefer? autistic person or person with autism? i know it is different for everyone!

personally, i have bipolar II, and i much prefer person with bipolar rather than bipolar person as the latter carries a lot of stigma and negative connotations. bipolar disorder is highly misunderstood and saying a "bipolar person" makes a lot of society automatically label that person as "crazy", etc, unfortunately. if someone described me as a "bipolar person", i'd be very upset and it would make me feel like i'm nothing more than mentally ill. person with bipolar, however, sounds a lot better to me as it shows that i am still a person; i'm just afflicted with a mental illness. that mental illness does not define me.

side note - in regards to:

just like you wouldn't say "person with gay"

the difference between person with autism, person with bipolar, etc and "person with gay" is that gay is not a mental illness or disability. sexuality is not something someone can "have", like how you can have mental illness

✿ -- (I hope it's okay to jump in here - this thread is really cool, hi guys!)
✿ -- personally, I think people prefer "autistic person" because while autism is a neurological disorder, it's not a mental illness and is not something you can (or necessarily would want to) "cure"?
✿ -- sometimes "person with autism" can give the impression that it's an illness (like you said, you would prefer "person with bipolar" because bipolar disorder is a mental illness that doesn't define you). however, for a lot of people with autism, because it is a neurotype it very much does define a lot of your personality and how you interact with the world. I don't know that comparing it to being gay is necessarily a good comparison, but I think the main point is that autism isn't a negative thing - Yes there is stigma attached to it, but it's kind of just a neutral part of you, as opposed to something like a mental illness, which you would perhaps seek treatment for
✿ -- (obviously I understand that some aspects of autism might feel negative, but a lot of that has to do with societal perceptions and accommodations rather than it being inherently "bad" in and of itself)
✿ -- I'm not sure how much sense this makes, sorry, and of course it's absolutely always up to the individual how they would prefer to identify/be referred to, so its probably always best to just ask people!

[FizzyConfettii]

hi everyone! i'm not autistic but id like to discuss something.

i noticed this on the "read before posting" section:

∞ "Autistic person" instead "person with Autism", just like you wouldn't say "person with gay"

i find it weird that this is a rule. i know quite a few people that would prefer person with [autism, depression, etc] rather than an [autistic, depressed, etc] person. they reason that saying things like "autistic person" can make it seem as though the person's only point of importance and defining feature is their disorder and reducing them down to just that. it can seem demeaning. however, i also see people arguing for the other side ("autistic person"), as they can see this as reclaiming the term and being proud of who they are. this description is highly stigmatized though and can bring about a lot of discrimination.

so my question is: which do you guys prefer? autistic person or person with autism? i know it is different for everyone!

personally, i have bipolar II, and i much prefer person with bipolar rather than bipolar person as the latter carries a lot of stigma and negative connotations. bipolar disorder is highly misunderstood and saying a "bipolar person" makes a lot of society automatically label that person as "crazy", etc, unfortunately. if someone described me as a "bipolar person", i'd be very upset and it would make me feel like i'm nothing more than mentally ill. person with bipolar, however, sounds a lot better to me as it shows that i am still a person; i'm just afflicted with a mental illness. that mental illness does not define me.

side note - in regards to:

just like you wouldn't say "person with gay"

the difference between person with autism, person with bipolar, etc and "person with gay" is that gay is not a mental illness or disability. sexuality is not something someone can "have", like how you can have mental illness

✿ -- (I hope it's okay to jump in here - this thread is really cool, hi guys!)
✿ -- personally, I think people prefer "autistic person" because while autism is a neurological disorder, it's not a mental illness and is not something you can (or necessarily would want to) "cure"?
✿ -- sometimes "person with autism" can give the impression that it's an illness (like you said, you would prefer "person with bipolar" because bipolar disorder is a mental illness that doesn't define you). however, for a lot of people with autism, because it is a neurotype it very much does define a lot of your personality and how you interact with the world. I don't know that comparing it to being gay is necessarily a good comparison, but I think the main point is that autism isn't a negative thing - Yes there is stigma attached to it, but it's kind of just a neutral part of you, as opposed to something like a mental illness, which you would perhaps seek treatment for
✿ -- (obviously I understand that some aspects of autism might feel negative, but a lot of that has to do with societal perceptions and accommodations rather than it being inherently "bad" in and of itself)
✿ -- I'm not sure how much sense this makes, sorry, and of course it's absolutely always up to the individual how they would prefer to identify/be referred to, so its probably always best to just ask people!

Autism has sociolinguistic culture, just like Deaf people.

If you know about Deaf Culture, you would know it’s disrespectful to refer to the Deaf community as People with Deafness. It’s actually the same with Autism, though less commonly known than the Deaf community.

While it is definitely up to each Autistic individual what language they prefer people to call themselves, When referring to other Autistics or the Autistic community, especially if you are Allistic, Identity First Language should be used.

“person first language” is often pushed onto us by non-Autistics, mostly medical professionals, even though the majority of Autistics strongly prefer PFL. This is in part due to the medicalisation of our existence.

In short Autism is not a disease, nor mental illness, nor a detachable accessory, nor something curable, nor something that is a little part of us. it’s a whole brain type. It’s a culture. Let us decide our language preferences, I decided to make this rule to reflect the Autism Community. (The rule is more for Allistics referring to Autistics, not Autistics referring to themselves!)

Food for thought: If you are not Autistic, do you have Allism? Or are you Allistic? (These terms mean not Autistic)

Writing this was literally exhausting but hope it helps, also hope it didn’t come off as too blunt? Lol.
It always stressful explaining our culture to Allistics, mostly cause many Allistics try to dictate how we should refer to ourselves. Able-splaining is an extremely common occurrence.

I ask that instead of continuing this potentially triggering discussion in this thread, google Autistic resources instead. Make sure to search terms such as Actually Autistic and Neurodiversity to make sure that the resources you are reading were created by Autistic people.

I would link some resources directly, but low spoons.

[another eternity]

me finding out this group exists AND finding out cs made red instead pets,,blessed late night times
it's always such a like welcome shock to see ppl go with autistic made advocacy stuff and not like. yknow. the alternative.
it makes april soooo draining (thank god it's over) so it's just. <33 happy surprises

[S0URBUGZ]

me finding out this group exists AND finding out cs made red instead pets,,blessed late night times
it's always such a like welcome shock to see ppl go with autistic made advocacy stuff and not like. yknow. the alternative.
it makes april soooo draining (thank god it's over) so it's just. <33 happy surprises

omg same!! never posted here but SO glad to see spaces for autistic people actually created by autistic people. no one will ever understand how happy i was to see the infinity symbol and red instead rats <333

[zoocyte]

i've been seeing a psychiatrist recently, have had maybe four meetings or so every month, and i wonder if i'm going to be diagnosed with autism or not. i've pretty strongly for a while suspected i was autistic, after reading about autistic experiences online and connecting with them really fittingly.

i've kind of become attached to it as part of my identity now, a possible foundational part of my identity, or at least i definitely have confidence in my identity as a neurodivergent person. she thinks i have adhd (i've been very sure of that for a long time), depression, anxiety and ocd (mild i think, from the scales i've been completing. i honestly never thought about having ocd but it makes sense, i just thought that the symptoms weren't strong enough to count or actually interfere with my daily life. but yeah i have had ocd for a long while too, just didn't know).

she didn't suspect i was autistic before until i brought it up, and named very specific, honestly almost imperceptible instances in my life which align with the symptoms, and she did agree that i might have autistic traits. i don't really know where the line is between my adhd and maybe/maybe not autism, since they have so much overlap. i'm just a little nervous about how i would feel if my diagnosis doesn't include autism (i don't know the difference yet between being diagnosed as autistic versus being diagnosed with autistic traits).

[S0URBUGZ]

i've been seeing a psychiatrist recently, have had maybe four meetings or so every month, and i wonder if i'm going to be diagnosed with autism or not. i've pretty strongly for a while suspected i was autistic, after reading about autistic experiences online and connecting with them really fittingly.

i've kind of become attached to it as part of my identity now, a possible foundational part of my identity, or at least i definitely have confidence in my identity as a neurodivergent person. she thinks i have adhd (i've been very sure of that for a long time), depression, anxiety and ocd (mild i think, from the scales i've been completing. i honestly never thought about having ocd but it makes sense, i just thought that the symptoms weren't strong enough to count or actually interfere with my daily life. but yeah i have had ocd for a long while too, just didn't know).

she didn't suspect i was autistic before until i brought it up, and named very specific, honestly almost imperceptible instances in my life which align with the symptoms, and she did agree that i might have autistic traits. i don't really know where the line is between my adhd and maybe/maybe not autism, since they have so much overlap. i'm just a little nervous about how i would feel if my diagnosis doesn't include autism (i don't know the difference yet between being diagnosed as autistic versus being diagnosed with autistic traits).

(if it's not ok to reply, let me know and I'll take this down)
I've been questioning if I have ADHD for a long while now and after reading experiences of people with ADHD, I align with many of them. However, I also align with a lot of experiences of autistic people, and since some overlap with ADHD, it's so confusing trying to figure out if I'm one or the other, or both. It's just really confusing and strange. If you need someone to talk to, feel free to PM me ^^

[FizzyConfettii]

me finding out this group exists AND finding out cs made red instead pets,,blessed late night times
it's always such a like welcome shock to see ppl go with autistic made advocacy stuff and not like. yknow. the alternative.
it makes april soooo draining (thank god it's over) so it's just. <33 happy surprises

Any time I see Autistic made resources on Autism I get just a little more faith in humanity <3

[rivaltrevor]

hello! im still trying to confirm if a few things are special interests or not ( i think miis is one?) but im not entirely sure. could anyone help?

[lithiceon]

Hi!!! Im Ian, Ive been told by my mom and aunt that i have autism but im not really sure of what that means ? i mean i know that i really like foxes and learning about rocks and my friends call me weird because i really like to talk about those things and because i do a lot of stimming? i think thats what it is!! I like to clap my hands when i get really excited and sway a lot!!! I also really like to gently bop my fist against my palm a lot :3

[lithiceon]

also ive seen thing about tone indacaters but idk what those are could someone tell me? thank you ^u^