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MNHQ have commented on this thread

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MNHQ have commented on this thread

AIBU?

AIBU to ask you to STOP

392 replies

Dawndonnaagain · 03/04/2016 14:38

using the term 'autistics'. Four fucking times this weekend on different threads. You mean person with autism, people with autism, child with autism. Autistics is not shorthand for any of those. Pack it in.

OP posts:

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nanetterose · 03/04/2016 16:14

mum calling yourself a "diabetic" would be fine as it explains all you'd need to know (pretty much)
Calling people with autism 'autistics' is of no use whatsoever. It doesn't cover anything.

NewYearNewToads · 03/04/2016 16:15

it is in common usage by adults with autism.

Yes, thank you!

NewYearNewToads · 03/04/2016 16:15

It tells you they have autism.

bearbehind · 03/04/2016 16:16

Calling people with autism 'autistics' is of no use whatsoever. It doesn't cover anything.

How does calling them 'people with autism' cover anything more?

OP, I think you'll have a long wait for an apology.......

Sirzy · 03/04/2016 16:18

But does it nane? I describe my son as asthmatic, any may use asthmatics to describe people with asthma in general but just like with autism there is a wide range of normal (and not normal in the case of Ds!) where asthma is concerned. I am guessing the same applies for diabetes and most other conditions.

Doesn't mean that there aren't times when things will be grouped together. Like I said earlier it is very much dependant on context imo.

NewYearNewToads · 03/04/2016 16:18

From the link in Orange's post:

"12. “You mean you are a person with autism. You are a person first, not a disability or a disorder label.”

Some people on the autism spectrum do prefer to be called people with autism, and if talking to someone who does, you should call them a person with autism. Many of us, however, prefer to be called Autistic or Autistic people, and if you are talking to someone who prefers to be called Autistic, you should also respect their preferences in referring to themselves, and call that person Autistic. Everyone has the right to decide how they would like to be described, and you should respect that right."

I agree with that 100%.

Dawndonnaagain · 03/04/2016 16:19

I am not talking about the word autistic. (How many times do I have to say it).
I am talking about lumping us all together as autistics. Plural.
It is not commonly used by people in the autistic community.

OP posts:

Samcro · 03/04/2016 16:20

Dawndonnaagain years ago when dd did conductive education, one of the staff you to use the term"the athetoid's" or just "athetoid's used to boil my piss

NewYearNewToads · 03/04/2016 16:21

I am talking about lumping us all together as autistics. Plural.

But we are autistic

OrangeNoodle · 03/04/2016 16:24

I am talking about lumping us all together as autistics. Plural.

It is common. More so in the US and Australia than here. And typically by people who are autistic rather than NT people 'labelling'.

BeccaMumsnet · 03/04/2016 16:25

Hi all - we do understand that this thread is highlighting an important issue, but unfortunately it has caused quite a lot of offence. We do think it's best to remove it.

notamummy10 · 03/04/2016 16:26

I'm a person who has dyslexia and it doesn't bother me if people call me dyslexic. But each to their own!

PageStillNotFound404 · 03/04/2016 16:26

I get what the OP is trying to say, I think. I know a very old-school retired psychologist who insists on grouping together anyone with a diagnosis of a psychotic condition as "psychotics" and it jars whenever he says it (eg he says things like "when I used to treat psychotics" or "there are far better drugs available these days to treat psychotics").

If someone wants to define themselves by saying "I'm psychotic" (using it as an adjective rather than a collective noun) then that's their call.

It's the difference between choosing to use a word to describe something you consider important about yourself, and someone else using it to define an entire group of disparate people as if the only thing that matters about them is their diagnosis.

NewYearNewToads · 03/04/2016 16:26

Must you Becca? I am learning something even if I am feeling offended at the same time.

TaraCarter · 03/04/2016 16:27

Toads There is a difference between nouns and adjectives, though.

"She is an autistic" is different to "she is autistic".

"Lumps as all together as autistics"

Dawndonnaagain · 03/04/2016 16:27

Yes we are. However, using 'the autistics' is rude, de-personalising and putting our differences before any other part of us. I am autistic, I am part of an autistic community, it's damn rude to refer to me as 'the autistic'. I am a woman with autism. I am a person with autism. I am not 'the autistic.
And I still think what you said about me up there^ was bloody rude and unfair.

OP posts:

NewYearNewToads · 03/04/2016 16:28

Except nobody describes someone as "an" autistic, do they? I have already explained that earlier on.

BeyondTellsEveryoneRealFacts · 03/04/2016 16:29

Yy, noun vs adjective
Perhaps you could restart the thread and put that in the op dawn?

NewYearNewToads · 03/04/2016 16:29

I have also never heard "the" autistics being used either. Just autistics.

notamummy10 · 03/04/2016 16:29

I would get more offended if people called me stupid or pointed out my dyslexic 'traits' in a negative view. (Forgot to add this to my first post).

Dawndonnaagain · 03/04/2016 16:29

Becca please don't. I'm offended too, although in a different way and whilst I may not have worded the op as well as perhaps I could have done, we're all on a learning curve here.

OP posts:

BeyondTellsEveryoneRealFacts · 03/04/2016 16:30

Maybe not "the", but i've def heard "those"

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bearbehind · 03/04/2016 16:30

But who has referred to anyone as 'the autistic'?

People may refer to a group as 'autistic' but I've never seen anyone call them 'the' autistics.

I think you are deliberately taking offence here.

Ironic that the thread is being deleted as it's actually caused offence.

hedgehogsdontbite · 03/04/2016 16:31

I feel very strongly, along with quite a large part of the autistic community that there term Autistics should not be used as a collective noun for our community.

Sorry but I have to disagree with this. Personally I, like you, despise the term and would happily see it disappear from use. However my experience is that it's growing in popularity especially among teenagers and young adults. So like it or not, you can't get angry at posters using it when it is the preferred term for some autistic people.

TaraCarter · 03/04/2016 16:33

Except, sometimes, people do. I have seen it. Generally by people trying to be offensive in a disingenuous way. "But s/he is!" follows when you challenge them on being a shit. And sometimes by people who just don't think about language.

I take it OP has seen the same thing.

"An autistic"/"the autistics" is not rendered A-OK because lots of people identify as autistic.

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