Person first?

Or.

Diagnosis first.

I’m either:

  • A person with autism, an example of people first language (PFL), or
  • An autistic person, an example of identity first language (IFL)

Which one’s more acceptable?

Like most things, it depends.

A survey conducted in March 2022 by the digital resource Autistic Not Weird polled more than 11,000 people with or connected to ASD. Over 76% of respondents favored IFL (being called, “autistic person”). However, parents of children on the spectrum leaned toward PFL (having their children be called, “person with autism”) as they feared IFL would label and limit their children.

If you’re the diagnosed, IFL.

If you’re their parent, PFL.

I’m on team IFL, because to me, “person with autism” sounds like I’m in search of a cure, like I’ve got cancer, or Parkinson’s, or I coal roll Teslas in my Compensator 1000.

However.

Most of the time?

I’m PFL.

Because then you’re faced with a person, instead of their deal.

They’re a person who uses drugs.

Not a junkie.

A person who broke the law.

Not a criminal.

By putting humanity first, we must face ourselves.

Remembering that if we were them, we’d be them.

First heard that from Pete Holmes, and I’d be forever grateful to a reader who found the source, since I don’t think it originated with him.

If we kept that front of mind, might be easier to dismiss and discard those that don’t fit our view of the world.