A response from the Executive Director of our Autism Society here in Colorado, and the parent of a young man with autism:
Hi Denver:
I learned disability terminology when “people first” language was our expression of choice.
All communication from the Autism Society was strictly moderated for people first language.
I was fairly freaked out when, about 7 or 8 years ago, I first heard people with autism referring to themselves as autistics. I wondered if their self-referral language was similar to people who shared ethnicity and called themselves and each other idiom names that was reflective of solidarity that outsiders were not allowed to use.
So, I started to ask people with autism if they were offended by the labeling language autie, aspie, autistics and was informed that no offense was taken by those I asked.
In more recent years, I hear more and more self-reference in those terms, and enjoyment, pride and comradeship derived from those tags.
I think what is known about autism is still so very little in relation to what we need to know. We are going to experience tremendous change in our knowledge base and our awareness and understanding as time moves on.
For me, one of the most important features of autism is that each person is unique and how autism affects them is unique, so, we say, “Once you have met one person with autism, you have met one person with autism.” Like any disability label, lumping people into a category doesn’t change the unique character of every person with a label, of course, but it does affect public perception at a time when there are at least as many myths abounding as facts about autism.