ItzaSpectrum of Vocations

You might notice I don’t really use person-first language when referring to certain things that most people DO use it with (e.g. “person with autism,” “person with ADHD,” etc). “Why is this,” you might ask. It’s *supposed* to promote seeing people as people first, but… I feel like it, instead, promotes self-hatred. Let me explain.

To me, it seems to imply that there’s a default definition of “person” (e.g. medium skin tone, hair & eye color; medium height & proportions; neurotypical brain; 2 arms & legs with 5 fingers & toes; etc.), that everyone else is somehow a deviation from “person” and those differences are somehow automatically bad, removable add-ons.

You WOULD say “I *have* cancer, I am a *person with cancer.* I am not my cancer, my cancer is a disease that must be eradicated.” But you would NOT say the same thing about your skin color, your sex, the number of your fingers, etc. unless you were bullied into believing that they were a defect that made you inferior, etc.

So, think about it… when *EVERYTHING* from HOW you experience your emotions & senses to HOW you remember your memories, HOW you think, imagine, learn, move, communicate, work, play, etc. is determined by your brain type (I *refuse* to refer to neurodivergences like ADHD, autism/Asperger’s, synesthesia, aphantasia, hyperphantasia, dyslexia, hyperlexia, dyscalculia, etc. as “disorders” or “syndromes”) and changing it would basically be erasing the original person & replacing them with someone else… why is everyone so determined to “cure” neurodivergent brain types by turning them into neurotypical brains? Why is everyone trying to fix something that isn’t broken any more than different skin colors or males & females are? Why is the majority of the public conversation “NT? Always 100% good. ND? Always 100% bad,” when neurotypical brains have many downsides and neurodivergent brains have many upsides?

That’s why I call myself “an autistic/Aspergian person,” “an ADHDer,” etc. just as I say I’m female, I’m mixed race, etc. I was made this way, I’m not broken or defective. I’m not lesser or greater than anyone else, just different! So are you and that’s fantastic!! <3 <3 <3