Recently I engaged in a study about language around Autistic experience and it made me feel so emotional.
When asked about words I really disliked, I replied:
Impairment,
Deficit,
Disorder,
Burden,
Abnormal,
Lack of,
Challenges,
Difficulty in,
These words are disgusting! They make us Autistic people out to be problematic, weird and unsupportable. And these words are consistently seen in research and services which are supposed to help us. They are based around neurotypical assumptions that the neuro-majority is right and therefore know more about our experiences and the way we should be more than do we.
The diagnosis procedure is based around things we are seen as being shit at, it’s demoralising and inhuman. When we do get a diagnosis we are only ever helped if we are ‘severe / level 3’ and even that comes after tons of hoop-jumping.
All this pathologising language does is create further social and medical barriers to us Autistic folk.
Autism and ADHD are often wrongly labelled as Mental Health issues. They’re not and this totally erases how many of us have co-occurring mental health issues because of how poorly the World treats us.
3 responses to ““It’s only words” – yes, but words hold so much power!”
So ADHD isn’t a mental health disorder? What about ocd? I am 47 and still struggling with understanding why I was cursed with them among other issues. I really liked this article and know that it is true that we are labeled as “ different”, less intelligent even. It really sucks. I’m not autistic but I can still relate.
OCD is definitely considered a MH issue (and I say that from my experience with it too). ADHD is a neurotype – good, bad, neutral and with us forever.
The problem with confusing the two is how we are treated and supported and how we can feel about ourselves too.
It’s sad that you relate but good to know I’m not alone.
[…] or “symptom” pathologise difference and reinforce stigma (I’ve spoken about this more here). Neuro-affirming language centres identity, not pathology. We can talk about Autistic people, […]