For Autism month, I wanted to publish a post about the importance of using the correct language around autism.

It is important to note that all autistic people have different language preferences, and an individual autistic person may have a different language preference to the ones laid out in this guide. An individual’s language preferences about themselves should be respected.

“Is Autistic” versus “Has Autism”

Autism is not something a person has, nor something someone carries around with them. Being autistic is an intrinsic part of a person, and not something that gets separated from a person, and therefore is not something that a person “has”.

We don’t say we “have Irishness”, we say we “are Irish”. Similarly, a person doesn’t “have autism”, they “are autistic”. This is the terminology chosen by the majority of autistic people in English speaking countries.

1. “On The Spectrum”

Many autistic people dislike the phrase “on the spectrum” because some people use it to say things like “you are only a little bit on the spectrum” or “We are all a bit on the spectrum”. Sometimes people say this to try and reassure us that we do not appear autistic to them. But Autistic people are different to non-autistic people, and that is okay; it does not need to be seen as a negative thing. However, being autistic does come with challenges, which can be very disabling, even if the autistic person does not obviously “appear” to be autistic.

The autistic spectrum is not a linear thing, and you cannot be a bit on the spectrum, and a bit off the spectrum. It is true that nearly all non-autistic people have some autistic traits, but this does not mean that they are “a bit autistic”. An autistic person can only get diagnosed as autistic if they have a significant amount of autistic traits, or their autistic traits significantly impact their daily life.

2. Asperger’s Syndrome

The term Asperger’s Syndrome is an old term that was used to describe autistic people who did not have a language delay. It was often used for autistic people who were fluent speakers, as well as autistic people who did not have a co-occuring intellectual disability. It is now an out-dated term, and is no longer used in autism identification/ diagnosis.

3. ASD / Autism Spectrum Disorder

The official term for autism in diagnostic manuals is ASD or Autism Spectrum Disorder. When a person is assessed for autism, and meets the criteria for autism, they are diagnosed with ASD/ Autism Spectrum Disorder.

ASD is an umbrella term, and includes autistic people who have language disabilities as well as people without language disabilities, and people who do have an intellectual disability and also those who do not have an intellectual disability.

The Term ASD and Autism Spectrum Disorder is often not liked by autistic people, as it contains the word “disorder”, which sounds very negative about a natural neuro-type.

4. “Non-Verbal” versus “Non-Speaking”

40% of Autistic adults are unable to reliably communicate through speaking all of the time, or some of the time. A lot of autistic adults who cannot speak, or cannot rely on speaking to communicate, have expressed a dislike of the term “non-verbal”. This is because some people think that “non-verbal” means that the autistic person has no language, or cannot understand what other people are saying. Research has found that the majority of autistic adults prefer the term “non-speaking” (Zisk and Konyn, 2022).

Some autistic people call themselves “Part-time non-speaking” which means they can speak sometimes, but not other times (e.g if they are overwhelmed or feeling under stress).

References:

Zisk A, H. and Konyn, L. (2022) “How to talk about AAC and AAC Users (according to them)” Available at: https://www.assistiveware.com/blog/how-to-talk-about-aac [Accessed 17^th February 2024]