Autism / ASD / ASC– Identity First or Person First Language?
A Unique Step Towards a Solution – ARaN (Autism Round-a-Noun) Logo
Inner Demo-Image by fliegenwulf / ShutterStock.com
||: … an Idea by Keira Fulton-Lees
What is the ARaN?
ARaN is an acronym for Autism Round-a-Noun, and it is a prototype of a Logo that I created that can possibly be used as a step towards solving the discrepancy of language preference that is used as either person-first or identity-first, when referencing an Autistic Individual/Individual Who Is Autistic.
How do you pronounce ARaN?
AR·aN
/ˈærən/
noun acronym
_____________________
Pronounced like the combination of the two words: “air” and “an”
As in:
- The Aran Islands: A group of three islands located at the mouth of Galway Bay, on the west coast of Ireland
- An Aran Sweater: Knitted clothing made with a traditional pattern and diamond shapes made by raised stitches
The Language Preference Problem
The ongoing debate on whether it is more correct to use person-first or identity-first language to reference Autistic individuals never really hit-home for me until recently when two specific incidents occurred:
- I write about Autism often, and I like to share my writing with my therapist prior to publication. I do this for a few simple reasons: First, she is a PhD Psychologist with specialty in Autism, and is way more educated than I, but second simply because she is neurotypical. Given my inherent difficulty with seeing the perspective of others, she sees things that I would otherwise miss.
In discussing this very story you are reading, I asked her opinion on the preferred order of person-first versus identity-first, and she responded by informing me that for her and other mental-health professionals, that it is not a matter of personal language choice, but rather that they are not only taught to always use person-first language in mental health profession programs, but as well mandated to use this language in documents they use in their daily practice and scholarly journals as well. - Secondly, I’ve noted after attending many NAMI support group meetings, that they too have this same person-first preference. If you’ve never been to a NAMI meeting, they follow a simple but formal protocol for how the meeting will proceed.
Basically it goes like this: The meeting starts with a basic “Who NAMI Is” and a “What this Meeting Provides” kick-off by the meeting facilitator, followed by a “going around the room” with short introductions by each attendee. The short introductions consist of announcing to the group your name, followed optionally by your diagnosis, and also optionally you can share a little about yourself and why you are there.
What is relevant to this story is that this “going around the room” introduction is preceded by the meeting facilitator first instructing the group to use person-fist language by first announcing your name, followed optionally by your diagnosis.
Prior to the two above incidents, I had always assumed it was a simple matter of personal preference in how any one individual wants to be addressed by others.
To be clear, my preference is identity-first…
I shared my preference with my therapist, and though she is okay with using my identity-first preference within the confines of our one-on-one weekly sessions, however she would still have to use person-first language in all formal documents within her practice.
As for the NAMI meetings, at the last meeting I attended, when I was next-up in the “going around the room” introduction time, I made it a point to say: “I’m going to go against protocol because I identify as Autistic first. So, I am Autistic, and my name is Keira”. The facilitator seemed to have a possibly puzzled look on her face when I said this, but I can’t be sure, because like most of us Autistics, I have trouble reading facial expressions.
Why I Prefer Identity-First
First, let me say that I understand the logic behind the person-first language preference usage by mental health organizations and practitioners – people generally don’t want to be identified as being their disorders. They want to be seen as a person first – a person who just happens to have a mental health disorder. Usage diagnosis-first language sends a preemptive negative message and dismisses them as a person.
However, this person-first mentality only works for all disorders except Autism. Being Autistic is a fundamental aspect of your identity and it affects how you perceive the world around you and how you interact with others. There is no separation between who you are as a person and being Autistic.
Unlike other disorders, being Autism is not about “what you have”, but about “who you are”.
If you are Autistic, you are Autistic for life – it is not an illness, disease, or disorder and cannot be “cured”. There exists no pill or medication of any kind, and no medical or herapeutic treatment that exists that will cure Autism – nor should there be. We are simply a different kind of person.
In fact, the usage of the word “Disorder” itself in the diagnosis “Autism Spectrum Disorder” is trending towards replacement with the word “Condition” in European countries such as the UK and Denmark – as in “Autism Spectrum Condition” (ASC) rather than “Autism Spectrum Disorder” (ASD).
A Step Towards Solving the Problem - with ARaN
Even as I wrote the first paragraph in this story, I was forced to choose an order for the grouping of words “Autistic Individual/Individual Who Is Autistic” at the end of the paragraph rather than “Individual Who Is Autistic/Autistic Individual. I chose the former simply because I prefer identity-first.
But, that grouping of words itself is also problematic in relation to the order in which I typed it. Some may have preferred a reverse ordering of that word grouping, such as: “Individual Who Is Autistic/Autistic Individual”.
This problem needs to be solved.
How can this be solved?
The ARaN logo includes both identity-first and person-first language in a circle. Within the circle, there is no start and there is no end, therefore no specific preference in choice of language is implied in choice of language - it can be seen as identity-first and person-first, or both.
It’s Not Just a Logo
The acronym ARaN not only refers to the logo, but is also refers to the identity-first and person-first language within the circle. What I am getting at is that “ARaN” is a pronounceable acronym noun that can be used as a substitute for both identity-first and person-first language. It’s circular design has no bias and is both singularly and multiply inclusive.
To make this clearer, the following are three examples of the same sentence using person-first, identity-first, and AraN-first language:
- Person-first Example Sentence
An individual who is Autistic is characterized by something known as the “Triad of Impairments”, which includes deficits in Social Communication, Social Understanding, and Imagination. - Identity-first Example Sentence
An Autistic individual is characterized by something known as the “Triad of Impairments”, which includes deficits in Social Communication, Social Understanding, and Imagination. - ARaN-first Example Sentence
An AraN is characterized by something known as the “Triad of Impairments”, which includes deficits in Social Communication, Social Understanding, and Imagination.
Notice how the ARaN-first example avoids the identity-first versus person-first issue altogether? It’s all inclusive and shows no bias. I think it clearly is a better choice of the three. What do you think?
Why I chose the word Individual rather than Person – A Short Grammar Lesson
I chose the word individual rather than person purely for grammatical reasons, as I will explain…
Whether it be the word “Individual”, or the word “Person”, both nouns in proper English must be preceded by the words “A” or “An” when referring to someone. For that purpose, the articles “A”, “An”, and “The” are used, and they are a type of determiner that goes before a noun.
The word “The” is a definite article, and the only definite article. Nouns in English are preceded by the definite article “The/the” when the speaker believes that the listener already knows what he is referring to which has already been mentioned.
The words “A” and “An” are referred to as indefinite articles, and they are the only indefinite article. Indefinite articles are invariable. You use one or the other, depending on the first letter of the word following the article, for pronunciation reasons. Use “A/a” when the next word starts with a consonant, or use “An/an” when the next word starts with a vowel (a,e,i,o,u) or with a mute h.
Since I see the usage of ARaN as a noun to refer to either “Individual who is Autistic”, “Autistic Individual”, or both, in all cases it is consistently grammatically correct in the usage of definite articles or indefinite articles. So, “The Individual who is Autistic, “An Autistic Individual”, and “An Autistic Individual”, all are proper English.
Had I used the word “Person who is Autistic” or “Autistic Person”, the grammar falls apart, as the word “Person”, which begins with a consonant should be preceded by the word “A”, but the word “Autistic”, which begins with a vowel must be preceded by the word “An”, so it would not be possible to use the same article in all cases.
Autism Advocacy and Support Group Website Logos
What I would love to see is that the ARaN would adopted by the many Autism advocacy websites as a revision to their logos. The following examples are prototypes I created for existing Autism advocacy organizations, blogs, and support websites.
Disclaimer: The usage of the following organizations logo enclosed within the ARaN logo have been created as example prototypes for editorial purposes, and are not in any way an indication that any of these organizations have adopted the ARaN logo or approved the usage of their logos in the images displayed.
The Example Logos From Various Autism Support Websites
Autism Society of America (ASA)
¹ “ The ASA’s stated goal is to increase public awareness about autism and the day-to-day issues faced by people with autism as well as their families and the professionals with whom they interact”
The Mighty
Who We Are
² “The Mighty is a digital health community created to empower and connect people facing health challenges and disabilities.”
Wrong Planet
³ “ Wrong Planet (sometimes referred to by its URL, wrongplanet.net) is an online community for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders. The site was started in 2004 by Dan Grover and Alex Plank and includes a chatroom, a forum, and articles describing how to deal with daily issues.”
Inner Image by fliegenwulf / ShutterStock.com
About the Stories Featured Preview Image
One common theme you will hear those of us that are Autistic is that we have always had an internal sense of not fitting in. Paul Collins, a parent of an Autistic child and known for his writings on the subject of Autism, has been quoted as saying:
“Autists are the ultimate square pegs, and the problem with pounding a square peg into a round hole is not that the hammering is hard work. It’s that you’re destroying the peg.” ~ Paul Collins
What Paul is saying is profoundly apt in it’s applicability to the misguided and damaging notion that Autistic people need to be forced to act like we are neurotypical, when we are not, cannot, and never will be.
This stories featured preview image reflects Paul’s words…
I Only Want to Help The Autistic Community
My goal is only to hopefully offer something of value that is good for the Autistic Community.
Contact Me! I would love to hear your feedback on my idea!
Email Keira Fulton-Lees: kfultonlees@gmail.com
Artfully Autistic Advocate for Autism
© 2019 ArtfullyAutistic.com
Music by Keira on BandCamp
Citations
[1] Wikipedia contributors. (2019, August 25). Autism Society of America. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16:02, October 4, 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Autism_Society_of_America&oldid=912439762
[2] The Mighty — Who We Are (Retreived 16:11, Octoner 4, 2019), from https://themighty.com/who-we-are/
[3] Wikipedia contributors. (2019, September 20). Wrong Planet. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 16:12, October 4, 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wrong_Planet&oldid=916776935
