With nearly fifty years experience ...

A Person with Autism or Autistic?

There is an ongoing debate over how people with a diagnosis of autism wish to refer to themselves and/or their diagnosis. The phrase ‘person with autism’ (person first) is used frequently in literature, but more recently, there has been a return to the use of the term ‘autistic person’ (or identity first), language driven by the autistic 'community'. This is to recognise the fact that autism is an integral part of a person and nothing to be ashamed of.  When talking to people, we will use the words preferred by the person to describe themselves. When we write, we will use both ‘person with autism’,  ‘autistic person’ or 'person on the autistic spectrum'. We recognise that people can feel strongly about both terminology and language and whilst we do not wish to cause any offence to anyone, we will always prioritise the views of autistic people themselves.  This is the 'AI Way'!