Category talk:Autistic people

Identify-first language preferred

Hi, I suggest changing the name of this category to "Autistic entertainers" because the autistic community generally prefers to use identify-first language rather than person-first language. "Identity-first language" in English refers to the simple adjectival form (and in English the adjective comes first), which is generally used when describing a neutral identity - e.g. "Hungarian person," "lefthanded person," "autistic person". Person-first language is distancing language, generally used when you want to distance a person from something negative about themselves (e.g. "person with COVID-19," "person with a criminal conviction") and sounds wrong when used for neutral characteristics (e.g. "person with Hungarianness," "person with lefthandedness"). As such, identity-first language is neutral about autism, while person-first language implies autism is negative. Person-first language also implies autism is separable from a person's core self, which is not how most autistic people relate to themselves. Elcalebo (talk) 12:28, 14 August 2024 (UTC)

This has already been discussed and the rationale for the current name was that the current name strikes an acceptable compromise between person-first or identity first language. CursedWithTheAbilityToDoTheMath (talk) 17:14, 14 August 2024 (UTC)

Thanks for linking to the previous discussion. I wouldn’t think it would need to be said but apparently it does: the suggestion that the language is a compromise is false; it’s not a compromise; it’s person-first. And even if it was a compromise, we shouldn’t compromise between a term clearly preferred by a community and a term more preferred by people outside that community; we should choose the former. Also, the main paragraph outlining the rationale has an odd misconception that being autistic is different to being “on the autism spectrum.” I have no doubt that this will eventually be raised again and changed to identity-first language. But I don’t have the energy to fight this now myself. Elcalebo (talk) 22:03, 13 November 2024 (UTC)

There were actually very few people discussing it previously too. What’s the time expectation for how long to wait to raise a topic again, especially when only about three people were involved in the previous conversation and no evidence that any of them actually represent the community? Elcalebo (talk) 22:07, 13 November 2024 (UTC)

You can open a new discussion if you wish. I perosnally don't know enough about the topic to form a solid opinion. It might be worth talking to some poeple on WP:MED about the topic as well. IntentionallyDense ^(Contribs) 02:58, 14 November 2024 (UTC)

Thanks! I have decided to propose this change after all. It is being discussed here - please join the discussion!

Elcalebo (talk) 09:56, 14 November 2024 (UTC)

I'd suggest notifying relevant wikiprojects about this discussion, such as WP:MED. IntentionallyDense ^(Contribs) 18:12, 14 November 2024 (UTC)