Hi, I responded to your post, and then I noticed you have anxiety and you're kind of getting dog piled. Are you OK? If you're still confused about stuff I can talk stuff through with you if you want?
No, I am not okay. I am having a panic attack. I just read through a lot of the responses, and they all seemed to be very accusatory because Iâm not a member of the community, even though I thought I made it clear that I would appreciate the input of people with lived experience because their say is more important that mine. But thanks very much for asking.
I have a question to ask of you, actually. This isnât mean to sound confrontational, Iâm really just curious, and Iâll try to explain what I mean so that itâs clear why Iâm asking.
What about those who canât speak for themselves? All of you on here seem to be on one end of the spectrum, the end of the spectrum who has words and can speak for themselves. But what about those who donât have that ability? Theyâre at the highest risk of being dehumanized from what I was taught (I work with people mostly on the lower end of the Autism Spectrum) and I was taught that we should use person first language for them because they cannot speak out and defend themselves, and because it was more polite towards them. Should I still be referring to them as autistic, or is that more a choice that you make to challenge societyâs frankly awful views on autism? Should not those who are at a high risk of being dehumanized be a person before they are their diagnosis? Or does it not matter?
I understand that you may not be qualified to give a definitive answer to this question, Iâm just looking for you opinion.
Lastly, that you for being the only person who answered my post rationally, in an accusatory way, and actually providing an explanation on the preference of autistic over person with autism. I appreciate it.
