I’m annoyed
- People posting about how “it’s just a costume” and “I shouldn’t have to research anything to have an opinion”. Um, WHAT? That is NOT the definition of a debate.
- Parents of autistic kids making comments like this make me want to tell them to go fuck themselves (source: Rethinking Autism):
well considering neither of my kids with autism can verbalize about their autism because of it, I believe they deserve the designation “with autism”…if a higher functioning individual refers to themselves as “autistic” then so be it…I feel it’s presumptuous for us to refer to people with autism as “autistics,” unless they do verbalized that this is their preference. I compare it with my own “disability,” which is that I was born with a lazy eye and developed amblyopia as my brain developed and blocked out the lazy eye’s image, leaving me legally blind in one eye. I have great vision in the other eye, but my perceptions are different than if I had developed with two equally functioning eyes. My amblyopia affects me and the way I perceive the world, but it’s normal for me. If I suddenly regained sight in that eye, it would be really tough, I think, for me to adapt, so therefore, I’m fine keeping my amblyopia. But I do not refer to myself as an “amblyopic.” I am a person with amblyopia. I know it’s not exactly the same, and many people with autism will tell you that they want to be known as an autistic person. I don’t like the sound of the word, and I don’t think the word is accurate; as a mom of two kids with autism, I know that they are not unaware of others, as the word autism suggests. The term I occasionally hear that does drive me nuts is “autist.” Sounds like artist, with a speech impediment!I guess if you feel your autism defines you, or affects most aspects of your life, it’s fine to call yourself autistic. My 14-year-old son does not like the word at all. He tells people that he’s like them, except for the fact that autism sometimes affects how he acts and experiences the world around him. My problem is when others use the term to refer to all people with autism. I have a bigger problem using it as a noun, as they do in Autistics Speaking Day. And why do we need a day for this anyway? Seriously, what’s the significance? Is it an awareness thing, an anti-Autism Speaks thing? Not being snarky…I honestly never heard of it and I wonder what the point is.yeah, i’ve been seeing these comments too….the one that got me the most was the “higher functioning individuals” one, because wtf is higher functioning anyway?
i mean, you wouldn’t call a black person a person with blackness, would you? or a woman a person who is female? the whole concept of people first language is built upon the assumption that disability is a BAD THING and therefore we need to SEPARATE IT FROM OURSELVES.
i mean, i use people first language fairly interchangeably with non-people first language, just to avoid argument most of the time, but i mean, come on, Autistics Speaking Day is not about this language absurdity….it’s about ACTUAL AUTISTIC PEOPLE ACTUALLY SPEAKING FOR THEMSELVES which come to think of it those comments aren’t helping.
This is the same reason I am not a big fan of the ‘people first’ language. The way I see it being a cripple is a big part of who I am now. It’s something I can’t ignore, yet I don’t think about it as defining me. It’s just part of my life now. The language that others use to displace this part of my life from my personhood are doing me a disservice. However well intentioned they might be, they do not get to decide that part of who I am is not who I am as a person. If it makes them uncomfortable I believe that is their problem.
(Source: goldenheartedrose)
