I don't like being referred to as a "person with autism". I can't just set it down, it's not something I can remove. It is fundamental to the way I interact with the world, right down to how stim enters my brain. If my brain has types of inputs no allistic person can even approach, and methods of processing inherently different, it is an existence no allistic person can reach. There is no version of me that is not autistic.
A "cure" is the same as shooting me and replacing me with someone else.
The type of person I am is autistic. I am autistic.
I know it is a big trend in leftist spaces to use person first language, but in many situations that just sounds like eugenics to me. Personhood is not some distinct universal experience. There is no “ideal human mind” floating out there in the aether for them to recognize in me.
I get that person first language helps some people recognize that thoughts happen behind my eyes, but if the only way they can do that is by imagining I’m them, I don’t care.
I've heard repeatedly, from different autists, how they explained this to teachers for pschology, pedagogy etc. and the teachers listened, nodded along and then immediately went on to keep using person first language.
That's a silly thing for a person with teaching to do, ngl.
yeah I've had similar experiences as well, it has lead to me having little trust in teachers in general
It's a general problem with academics and marginalized people, the academic world just moves slower than the communities they're dealing with and they're always lagging 10 years behind in their language and can't spontaneously course-correct because direct input from the people they're talking about counts less to them than what's on the books. Really shows you the priorities.
I don't think slower is the right way to put it, they often end up on the front lines of building oppressive structures themselves