“It Defines Who I Am” or “It’s Something I Have”: What Language Do [Autistic] Australian Adults [on the Autism Spectrum] Prefer?
Open accessAbstract
There has been a recent shift from person-first to identity-first language to describe autism. In this study, Australian adults who reported having a diagnosis of autism (N = 198) rated and ranked autism-terms for preference and offensiveness, and explained their choice in free-text. 'Autistic', 'Person on the Autism Spectrum', and 'Autistic Person' were rated most preferred and least offensive overall. Ranked-means showed 'person on the autism spectrum' was the most preferred term overall. Six qualitative themes reflected (1) autism as core to, or (2) part of one's identity, (3) 'spectrum' reflecting diversity, (4) the rejection of stigmatising and (5) medicalised language, and (6) pragmatics. These findings highlight the importance of inclusive dialogue regarding individual language preference.
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Guidance on alternative, more positive terminology is available and is currently gaining popularity among clinicians, researchers, and autism professionals.
“However, guidance on alternative, more positive terminology is available (Bottema-Beutel, et al., 2020; Brown et al., 2021; Bury et al., 2020a; Kenny et al., 2016; Robison, 2019) and is currently gaining popularity among clinicians, researchers, and autism professionals.”
From Neurodiversity and Autism Intervention: Reconciling Perspectives Through a Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Intervention Framework (2022) · cites this paper as Bury et al., 2020a
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- Authors
- Bury, S. M., Jellett, R., Spoor, J. R., & Hedley, D.
- Affiliations
- La Trobe University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Bury, Simon M.
- Venue
- Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
- Published
- 2020-02-28
- Volume
- 53
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 677-687
- ISSN
- 0162-3257 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-3432
- OpenAlex
- W3007056653
- Cited by
- 452
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 44 · 2025: 76 · 2024: 91 · 2023: 84 · 2022: 89 · 2021: 56 · 2020: 12
- FWCI
- 32.42
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- figshare.com
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- La Trobe University
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Disability Rights and Representation
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Medical Terminology › Medical Research and Practices
- Keywords
- person-first language, identity-first language, autism terminology, autistic adults, language preference, offensiveness, autism identity, stigma, medicalization, inclusive language
- MeSH terms
- Autism Spectrum Disorder, Adult, Australia, Autistic Disorder, Humans, Language
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