this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2023
53 points (81.2% liked)

Autism

6880 readers
40 users here now

A community for respectful discussion and memes related to autism acceptance. All neurotypes are welcome.

We have created our own instance! Visit Autism Place the following community for more info.

Community:

Values

  • Acceptance
  • Openness
  • Understanding
  • Equality
  • Reciprocity
  • Mutuality
  • Love

Rules

  1. No abusive, derogatory, or offensive post/comments e.g: racism, sexism, religious hatred, homophobia, gatekeeping, trolling.
  2. Posts must be related to autism, off-topic discussions happen in the matrix chat.
  3. Your posts must include a text body. It doesn't have to be long, it just needs to be descriptive.
  4. Do not request donations.
  5. Be respectful in discussions.
  6. Do not post misinformation.
  7. Mark NSFW content accordingly.
  8. Do not promote Autism Speaks.
  9. General Lemmy World rules.

Encouraged

  1. Open acceptance of all autism levels as a respectable neurotype.
  2. Funny memes.
  3. Respectful venting.
  4. Describe posts of pictures/memes using text in the body for our visually impaired users.
  5. Welcoming and accepting attitudes.
  6. Questions regarding autism.
  7. Questions on confusing situations.
  8. Seeking and sharing support.
  9. Engagement in our community's values.
  10. Expressing a difference of opinion without directly insulting another user.
  11. Please report questionable posts and let the mods deal with it. Chat Room
  • We have a chat room! Want to engage in dialogue? Come join us at the community's Matrix Chat.

.

Helpful Resources

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

I'd like to start off by saying I have autism.

Many people - autistic and otherwise - have debated whether to refer to us as autistic people, or people with autism.

I'm aware that some people with autism prefer the former description, autistic people. Personally, I don't mind either description. I'd guess most of us aren't that bothered, although I don't know for sure.

That being said, the latter description, people with autism, is widely considered to be more politically correct.

Neurotypical people will visit this community, and we don't want to offend them by using the incorrect term to describe ourselves.

/s, by the way. Never let an NT tell you what to call yourself.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Thsisbail2 2 points 1 year ago (11 children)

Don't have autism but am in the field specifically with younger kids. We have switched from saying autistic kids like "I work with autistic kids" to " I work with kids with autism." Curious if one feels better to you as someone who has autism.

[–] Swictor 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Personally I prefer being referred to as autistic as "having autism" makes it sound like a disease to me. In my experience what autism does to me is to make me who I am. It's a collection of traits that we have labeled autistic that is part of shaping my personality, for better and worse. Some traits are annoying to have sure, but everyone has annoying traits(to have or for others to have), mine are just incidentally put in a box and labeled.

The counterargument I've heard is that I shouldn't let it control who I am, therefore it's something I have, but that sounds silly to me because it is me. I tried all my childhood not to be weird and it only made me more insecure and unsincere. I'd rather own it than pretend it doesn't "control me".

It must be said though, it's not something I care very much about and would probably not have noticed much hadn't I been corrected by a social worker when I referred to myself as autistic and explained why it shouldn't be used.

[–] harmlessmushroom 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I don’t think adjective-first is letting it control who I am. It’s just one of my qualities. I am kind. I am clumsy. I am intelligent. I am creative. I am autistic.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (9 replies)