To call them autistic or people with autism

[c172]

So I'm sitting in a communications class that is a week long, for college. And of course something that came up was political correctness. Now the example of autism came up and the teacher asked about this example "what is better, to call someone with autism autistic, or say they are a person with autism." Now I am autistic and I spoke up and said, " I said I have high functioning autism and I prefer to be simply called autistic, because it is short and to the point." I got told I was wrong and that it is better to call them a person with autism. The teacher ( who is actually very good) then went on to explain about calling learning disabled kids in elementary and Jr high exceptional instead of disabled. That is downright stupid because these kids (I lived it) have a hard enough time being taken seriously and getting the help they need, without a patronizing softening of the language to make things seem more positive then they are. I say, call a spade a spade.
Your thoughts?

Without having read the responses, I'll over my .02. I have spina bifida, a disability that has nothing to do with autism. I grew up "disabled". That was the term that seemed to feel best (and least patronizing) for most such folks in my circle. Now, we are seeing that "person-first" language, and are seen (mostly by PC-minded able-bodies) as "Persons with Disbilities". This took a while to get used to. It seems needlessly cumbersome. But as I get older, I'm OK with it, as it can be shortened to "PWD", which is easy to say. 

I will say that I hate the word "cripple" or "invalid" (which is spelled the same, but pronounced differently, than a certain synonym for "void" or "impertinent"). I hate to be made to feel that I'm impertinent just because of my disability. 

The teacher was wrong to discount what you had to say. Especially since you are directly afffected by this language.

I will say, however, that I don't even understand why certain terms of address offend me, but they nevertheless do.

[Faith No More]

Of all the things there are to fix in the world, it's strange that we focus so much on words. I mean, I get that words can hurt, and we do need to be sensitive to other's feelings to some extent. But I feel like when people go to the extent in the OP, however, it's more about those people feeling better about themselves than making any real difference in the lives of the people supposedly being affected in any meaningful way.

And personally, I feel that if you insist that someone refer to you as a person with autism as opposed to autistic, that says more about your own insecurities than it does with how words actually affect you. People use terminology that could be considered offensive to people with mental health issues all of the time, but you don't see me pissing and moaning about it.

[brewer]

Of all the things there are to fix in the world, it's strange that we focus so much on words.  I mean, I get that words can hurt, and we do need to be sensitive to other's feelings to some extent.  But I feel like when people go to the extent in the OP, however, it's more about those people feeling better about themselves than making any real difference in the lives of the people supposedly being affected in any meaningful way.

And personally, I feel that if you insist that someone refer to you as a person with autism as opposed to autistic, that says more about your own insecurities than it does with how words actually affect you.  People use terminology that could be considered offensive to people with mental health issues all of the time, but you don't see me pissing and moaning about it.

Oh, what the fuck do we know. We're both just loony, brain cases, nuts, out to lunch, psycho, ..........

Oops, sorry. Persons of other minds!

[Jackalope]

Along the same lines, I for one will not refer to myself as bipolar, because that is not what I am, it is not what defines me - and I don't think it has a damn thing to do with PC. I also greatly prefer that others not do so either, though it's not like I'm gonna berate them for it.

[Exian]

To me, dancing around the possibly harmful always highlights the sensitivity. Sort of like when you were a kid in the other room: your parents are talking and it's all mumbled mush, but then they take the steps to spell something out (B-I-G S-L-I-M-Y E-R-E-C-T-I-O-N), and suddenly your attention snaps to it. Whereas, if it was just stated plainly, you wouldn't notice. The thing is, you might not even know what they spelled, but you sure as hell knew it was bad. Same with taking extra steps to be politically correct- suddenly the supposed shame is highlighted.

[bennyboy]

So I'm sitting in a communications class that is a week long, for college. And of course something that came up was political correctness. Now the example of autism came up and the teacher asked about this example "what is better, to call someone with autism autistic, or say they are a person with autism." Now I am autistic and I spoke up and said, " I said I have high functioning autism and I prefer to be simply called autistic, because it is short and to the point." I got told I was wrong and that it is better to call them a person with autism. The teacher ( who is actually very good) then went on to explain about calling learning disabled kids in elementary and Jr high exceptional instead of disabled. That is downright stupid because these kids (I lived it) have a hard enough time being taken seriously and getting the help they need, without a patronizing softening of the language to make things seem more positive then they are. I say, call a spade a spade.
Your thoughts?

All these euphemisms are clearly patronizing, and ironic to boot.  The words are meant to enable those with hardships in life-- by saying "Don't worry, buddy!  I will protect you, so you won't have to stand up for yourself." However, I'm pretty sure that a mentally retarded person will be aware enough to know that "special" or "exceptional" are really just words that imply incapacity for them to fend for themselves.  All the special protections and walking-on-eggshells just reminds a person, all the damned time, that they are different.

At any rate, real insult is in the intent.  A cruel child can say "special" in a way that will crush another's soul: "Nah nah na na nahhhh, you ride the special bus, cuz you are so 'spe-ciaaaalll.'"  A tolerant person can say "retarded" in a way that shows acceptance of the human being, as in "That retarded boy next store made this cup for me.  Isn't it lovely?"

There was a special class in my elementary school, and we played together during recess.  Nobody really gave a shit what class they were from.  One kid had ridiculous big ears (that was me), one kid had slanty eyes (she was from Vietnam), one kid was really fat, one kid had gap teeth, one kid was Mexican (my best friend), one kid was clumsy as shit, and a couple kids were mentally retarded (severe Downs Syndrome).  We played with each other, got mad at each other, and insulted the fuck out of each other, all the time.  Yes, the retarded guys were pretty dumb in some ways-- you wouldn't go to them to help with math homework, for sure. However, they were also good at stuff, and a couple of them were uproariously funny. To me, that's about as equal as equal gets.

As for your teacher: what a retarded cunt she is. They're going to tell an autistic person what he/she should or shouldn't be called? That's like a white professor deciding what it's okay to call black people.

[bennyboy]

Also: don't be mad if you disagree with my previous post. It's not my fault-- I'm just differently-opinioned. No, wait, I'm a person who has a different opinion. No, I'm an exceptionally-opinioned humanoid mammal. No, I'm. . . aww, fuck!

[BrokenQuill92]

While not having autism as you guys know I'm blind. I feel like pwd is trying too hard and invalidates my lived experience. Im a blind person. No it's not all I am but it's as much apart of me as my skin color or gender or sexual orientation. And no one calls me a person with blackness, a person with pansexuality, or a person with femaleness.

[Whateverist]

Agree with you.

Like Yoda you are.

[account_inactive]

Agree with you.

Like Yoda you are.