Poll: Preference of Identity terms

[LadyS]

Apologies if this has been done before. Just curious if everyone has an Autism term they prefer to identify with. Just wanted to note, I'm not suggesting that the term IS your identity, but more of a generalized descriptive term.

 

[Raggamuffin]

Weapons Grade Autism.

Ed

 

[Judge]

For me such considerations are academic. The medical community has essentially complete control over what and how they choose to define us. And few of them are Neurodiverse. Not to mention "the numbers" which keep such distinctions academic as well, given the vast majority of society is either ignorant of and/or oblivious to autism or easily offended by anything interpreted as "political correctness".

Perhaps above all, that we cannot be so easily identified visually unlike many other social minorities. In other words the odds are stacked against us whether we unite on a single term or continue to argue such a point.

I've used virtually all those terms at one time or another. To me they might only count when I'm addressing an autistic audience. If not, it may not serve me to use much of any term describing something which can be so easily misunderstood or not understood at all. That's a skill I leave for autistic advocates best suited for the job.

 

[Tom]

Spectrum Ranger

 

[watersprite]

I’ll add a bit to @Judge information. Some of us can and are if not identified certainly marked/put in a box as “other” by many neurotypical folks by how we speak.

I tend to bristle and sometimes snarl at being labeled. I don’t like it but it is what I do.

 

[LadyS]

It's interesting that such terms can trigger a more negative connotation due to past medical discrimination and horrific experiments. It reminds me of when terms related to Negro or Gay were used to dehumanize someone but was later hijacked or adopted by that very group to identify themselves. It sounds to me that we still have a ways to go before it no longer triggers ill feelings or insecurities.

For me, I'm more attune to 'on the spectrum', but I don't see it in a negative way. Just a description that says my brain is wired a bit more differently than the majority of the human race, nothing else. I haven't experienced any discrimination (YET) by being open about it mostly because it seems more and more people know someone on the spectrum these days. I remember experiencing discrimination for being left-handed for example. But I still identify as a lefthander? Can't really change it. I think there still exists some sort of insecurity because no one likes to be different? Correct me if I'm wrong. Because if we weren't different then we wouldn't have a specific Autism forum to begin with?

I prefer to identify with the term "human being".

YES. Same, first and foremost. And then I'm self-identified female, Asian/Indian, American, Left-handed, Agnostic, Independent, etc. These days it does seem some labels matter depending on the individual. I think this is why the All Lives Matter 'movement' got a lot of blowback. To say we're just like everyone else kinda negates the struggles we experience.

 

[Magna]

I was diagnosed after Aspergers was merged into/with ASD. Had the two still been separate and distinct my assessor said I'd be "off the charts" Aspergers. I don't personally like referring to myself as an "Aspie" because to me it's got a cutsie element that I don't like.

I respect other autistic people who want to use "person first" language for themselves and how they prefer to refer to other fellow autistics. Personal choice. However, I do like "person first" language for myself. I'm autistic. I don't have to separate myself from my autism. I don't want to. If others think of autism as a scourge and they feel in order to humanize me that have to separate me from my autism, that's unsettling.

Had I been diagnosed as Aspergers prior to the merge I would have been very bothered by it. It almost seems like a cruel joke: Take a group of people that are generally very rule based, very "black and white thinking" based, very routine based and pull the rug out from under them and tell them the nomenclature of a defining aspect of their neurology doesn't exist any longer.

 

[Judge]

Within this particular forum, when people intricately describe their traits and behaviors, to me that's far more descriptive than any one term a person decides to use to identify with. Making it ok with me to use most any term you feel comfortable using. That what remains most important is that we all know in a basic sense of who- and what we are, on a level we can truly understand and relate to.

 

[Judge]

We should have a club and a secret southpaw sign.

Not necessary. Just put on some sweats and run up those steps.

 

[LadyS]

You`re a southpaw? Me too! Southpaws rule There are so few of us that we have to stick together you know. We should have a club and a secret southpaw sign.

Ok I hate to admit but I had to google that. (Adding another to my list ). Yes! Are there jackets? I'm sure there is a left-hander forum somewhere.

 

[dragonfire42]

I don’t really have much sense of identity at all, except as things I am not. So I don’t typically feel strongly about terminology, it’s all just trying to put me in a group where I still don’t fit in, which I’ve become pretty inured to by now. Saying that I am autistic is what comes most naturally to me, but it’s much like asking me if I prefer to be called a brunette or someone with brown hair. When interacting with others, I tend to say I’m on the autism spectrum, to try to avoid any quibbling about exactly where on it I seem to be. My official diagnosis is Asperger’s syndrome, but when people think of that, they assume I’m significantly higher-functioning than I am, I’ve never felt like it really fits me well, so I avoid using that label. I respect everyone’s preferences for themselves, but a lot of the insistence I see on phrasing it as “person with autism” comes from NTs, and that feels a bit patronizing to me.

 

[Tom]

Some trivia:

Studies have shown left handedness is much more frequent with people on the spectrum

There Are Indeed More Left-Handers Within the Autism Spectrum Disorder Compared with in the General Population, but the Many Mixed-Handers Is the More Interesting Finding - PubMed

 

[LadyS]

I suggest we wear something like this. We have to live in a world designed for right-handers, we really should get more support. Nice to meet another southpaw, good luck to you, with the scissors and everything else.

View attachment 74267

I'd like one that says "Spiral Notebooks are the Devil" or "Permanently Smudged Hand"

 

[maycontainthunder]

*tiptoes into thread pretending not to be right handed*

I tend to hide my ASD. I don't feel the UK is a safe place to be different.

 

[LadyS]

I don’t really have much sense of identity at all, except as things I am not. So I don’t typically feel strongly about terminology, it’s all just trying to put me in a group where I still don’t fit in, which I’ve become pretty inured to by now. Saying that I am autistic is what comes most naturally to me, but it’s much like asking me if I prefer to be called a brunette or someone with brown hair. When interacting with others, I tend to say I’m on the autism spectrum, to try to avoid any quibbling about exactly where on it I seem to be. My official diagnosis is Asperger’s syndrome, but when people think of that, they assume I’m significantly higher-functioning than I am, I’ve never felt like it really fits me well, so I avoid using that label. I respect everyone’s preferences for themselves, but a lot of the insistence I see on phrasing it as “person with autism” comes from NTs, and that feels a bit patronizing to me.

I feel like ALL identifying labels (political, religious, gender, etc) are less of pin-point accuracy and more of a spectrum as well. Kind of gives a gist but no real unique details. Depends on who you're talking to of course.

 

[BrokenBoy]

I use "Retarded".

This is not a joke or me trying to troll, I mean it. That is how I choose to self-identify.

 

[Tuffsy]

I like High Functioning, although my partner calls me High Maintenance!! Bboom!

 

[watersprite]

I’m also left handed.

lol edited to correct spelling.

 

[Ylva]

As far as I'm concerned, the condition is Autism. It's a neurological divergence, if only because it is relatively rare. I don't need to think of myself that way when it's just me, but it is relevant when I interact with other humans.

 

[Gerontius]

The part I haven't seen too much of is a difference between Description or Definition. Terms like 'autistic' describe us but don't define us. They are a helpful way for NT and ND folks alike to categorize one another and it can be helpful in many situations.

And I do not like wearing autism on my sleeve in public; I'd just as soon be treated like another human being instead of an object of pity. In some ways I don't like 'autism awareness' as I don't want to become (to everyone else I encounter) a thing instead of a man. And no, I do not trust the hoi polloi enough to treat other people like people.

This is why I do not trust, either, the idea of redefining everything every so often; when Descriptions become the definition of everything then they cease being helpful and end up being very confusing & of little value in the long run.