Is this silly debate about saying someone “has autism” vs saying someone “is autistic” STILL going on?!
I use them pretty interchangeably on my FB page and on my blog, but I’ll ready admit that I usually say my son “has autism.”
It seems to me like parents of low functioning ASD kids prefer “has autism” while highly functioning & aspergers folks prefer that they “are autistic.”
People have tried to suck me into the debate from time to time or made a comment on the page or blog complaining that I’m using the wrong phrase no matter which way I go.
I really don’t care to get sucked into the debate….I really dont care what you call it. It truly doesn’t bother me either way..
But I will say this
(which I’m sure will spark a big debate 🙂
I thnk the reason i usually say that my son “has autism” is that I readily admit that I think of it as a disorder, something that I would give back in a heartbeat. (I wrote about giving it back in an old post that you can read HERE)
Anyway, the same way you say “she has cancer” I say “Kyle has autism”. It doesn’t define him as a person, it’s just something that he has and he has to live with and fight…the same way you fight cancer.
I think the high functioning and aspergers “autistics” prefer autistic because they feel that their autism is an integral part of who they are. And that they’d be a completely different, and not necessarily better person without their autism.
And that may be true for them but if that’s true for them then they are truly dealing with almost a completely different type of autism then my son.
My son has severe / classic autism (there i go again, notice how I didn’t say “he is severely autistic”). Anyway I’ve said in other blog posts I truly feel like without his autism I’d still have the SAME kid with the SAME personality but without the autism he could talk, and he wouldn’t have seizures, etc, etc, etc.
I can think of a million things that the disorder that he has which is called autism prevents him from doing but talking, hell communicating in any way tops the list!
And if your an autistic person and you take offense that I think of my sons autism as a disorder I point you to Carly Fleischmann. She is non verbal and classically autistic but she writes about the struggles she has to deal with and how she wants to talk so badly yet cant because of her autism and she writes about some of her sensory issues and how because of her autism she sometimes feels like she has ants crawling over her body. It sounds like she’d give back her autism if given the chance.
That’s all i got. As usual I’m rambling so I’ll end it here.
And I’m sure this post will start a huge debate but that was not my intent. I think we can live with both terms and if you are autistic I can see your point of view and I hope you can understand my point of view on this issue.
That’s all. The end.
Go in peace…
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I've never been offended by one term or the other. I have bigger battles to fight.
Ditto, Jennifer!
Totally Agree Jennifer!!!
Wot Jennifer said x
I agree. My daughter is severely Autistic, and also has intellectual Disorder. I feel like with all the mud us ASD families go through with this fickle phantom that is Autism you must have things pretty good to be able to care about verbiage.
I go between the two.... sometimes he's autistic and sometimes he has autism! Depends on who I am talking to I guess. It is a big part of who he is but isn't WHO he is......if that makes sense. I don't guess I'll ever know if he would prefer NOT to be autistic. That is one of my hopes.... that he will be able to communicate. I would LOVE to know what he thinks of all of us "normal" people!!!! In the meantime he is a happy camper most of the time and allows us a peek into his mind/world occasionally. Once again thanks for sharing A.D.
I could have written this rant :) In fact, except for the description of the child, I have said the same thing to many other people.
I asked my daughter, and she said this( I scribed for her):
I have.....
red hair
autism
a sunburn
freckles
a tabby cat
a blister! AAAHHH get a bandaid!!! MOOOMMMYYY!!!
I am.....
left handed
kinda short
a girl
funny (so I'm told)
My ID card describes me as:
caucasian-whats that mean?
female
minor
brown eyes
red hair
Autism isn't all of who I am. I'm good at art, and I got good grades this time, and I like to help people. Hey, did you see this video yet? (pay attention) Oh. I made a thing in paint, but it wasn't for school or anything. (pay attention!) Oh. I like to help kids at school who have worse autism, why don't people get that he like...*can't* to be touched, and he isn't just playing? I mean, why do they have to understand WHY before they just not do it? Can't they just say, 'oh, okay' and not touch him? He lets me take him to class cause I won't hold his hand, I hold his sleeve on his coat. It's not hard, he's not stupid, he just doesn't talk. And I talk all the time, so we sort of match! Hey, did I show you that thing I drew? (no, not yet.)
Did I mention she also HAS ADHD? But it isn't all of what she is. She would still be the same caring, funny, red headed, left handed, person without it.
Well said.
But you can also be autistic, left-handed, intelligent, funny, artistic... and still be all of the other things. One of the things I like about using the term "autistic" rather than "has autism" is that it allows for more gradation - i.e. you can be somewhat intelligent or very intelligent and your are still intelligent, you can be a little funny or extremely funny and you are still funny, you can be a little autistic or very affected and still be autistic. It's just another part of you - not all of you. You can also be moderately vision impaired or have no vision and still be blind.
And there are things about my autism that I would change if I could just as I would some of my other traits.
In any case, we are all different and what word we use is less important than the compassion we show for each other.
This has brought a tear to my eye ,she sounds just like my 3 boys who are on different places on the spectrum !!x
I have a child with diabetes. He is a diabetic. I have also a daughter with autism. She is autistic. To-may-to? Tah-mah-to? Whatever, I love them both.
whats the difference, I dont get it? somebody explain please
The difference is a of higher functioning people don't like to accept the fact that there are a lot of sick or severely disabled people with autism.This is the main reason.
A rose by any other name would smell just as (bitter)sweet.
"has Autism" "is autistic" It's all the same to me.
We just learned about my son Hunter's diagnosis of asd late last year. He'll be three next month. I'm also still trying to figure out how to, or when to explain to people about my son's Autism. It's weird for me bc I don't feel like I need to shout from the rooftop, but taking my son on a small choo choo train ride at the zoo i felt like I needed to tell the driver that my son was autistic and if we need to get off if that'd be ok.
I've never thought about autism vs autistic. I dont see why there's a need for debate. You can't be autistic without having autism!
But going to my sons IEP meeting, and filling out paperwork for school, I can't get over the term "sped" teachers. It's a term I get, but don't like. It's the words people use that urk me. (ex: retarded, sped, short bus) I get hyper sensitive to those, but have to realize not everyone is living our life, and I can't expect people to change on our part. All I can do is be patient, protect my kid, and rip anybody's throat out who hurts him. :)
Autism Daddy, your page really makes me feel better sometimes. Thanks for being positive and having a great outlook. It's infectious.
Great post! Personaly, I don't even understand why people feel its necessary to,even argue about it?
Some people do tend to get caught up in the semantics....
Autism Daddy I just wanted to tell you not to give up on the talking. I work with a young man with autism. He functions at about a 2/3 yr old level for most things, also has a seizure disorder and had no functional language until he was about 19 or 20. I do not know what his choice would be, but if I got to choose for him, it woul get rid of the autism!! He is an amazingly funny, sweet generous guy. We have a great time together! But if I could trade having a job with my friend Allistar, to just having my friend Allistar, I would in a heartbeat.
This fills me with hope, thankyou so much for thinking of writing this :)