I Don't 'Have Autism' —I'm Autistic. Here's Why That Matters

Language is powerful in its ability to shape how we see one another—and ourselves.

“Wait, so do you have autism?”

A few months back, I was catching up with an old friend who’d seen me post on Instagram about my recent autism diagnosis. While I answered “yes,” as it was technically true, describing myself this way still did not feel completely right to me. I don’t usually say I “have autism,” because that syntax conveys autism as being an illness. Instead, I tend to say, “I’m autistic,” which comes across as a personality trait.

The latter way of describing oneself—“I’m autistic”—uses identity-first language, whereas the former—“I have autism”—uses person-first language. There isn’t consensus about whether person-first or identity-first language is preferable for any given identity—particularly within disabled and neurodiverse communities. For instance, some members of the deaf community prefer to be described as “deaf people” (identity-first language) rather than “people with deafness” (person-first) because they consider deafness part of a culture and a trait to be proud of. Others feel, however, that using person-first language for certain descriptors—e.g. “people with disabilities”—helps to acknowledge someone’s humanity and show that a disability is just one part of them.

Such discussions about terminology isn’t just the splitting of semantic hairs, though. Language is powerful in its ability to shape how we see one another, and being attentive to the weight of words is a way to show respect for a certain culture or community of people—as well as for individuals themselves.

In the autism community—which encompasses about one in 45 American adults, as of a 2020 estimate—there has recently been a move among autistic people and their advocates to use identity-first language, as it feels less stigmatizing to many people, says Taylor Day, PhD, a licensed psychologist specializing in autism. “This shift has been largely driven by autistic adults stating their preference. We are seeing more acceptance of differences and people really starting to embrace neurodiversity.” This acceptance has led to more people considering autism a large part of their identity—a part of which they are proud.