alt-text: [text saying “aspergers is ableist” next to the autistic pride flag on top of a digital art 2d wooden background]

  • apis@beehaw.org
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    3 days ago

    Might not even flag up the origin of the term, unless the person queries why it has fallen out of use.

    Mostly because it can lead to them feeling the need to then explain that they didn’t use it with eugenic sympathies, and me needing to reassure them that I knew that they used it in innocence, all of which is a big diversion from the original topic of conversation.

    I feel it easy enough to mention a change in terminology where there’s a good deal of consensus regarding the switch, as there is with Asperger’s & Oriental, but altogether more delicate where members of a group are split on which they prefer for themselves. Not because I find it difficult to acknowledge & move to the language the person I am speaking with prefers, but because I see the blinkers come down when gently explaining to others who want a definitive answer that there is no consensus, and to take it gently themselves.