ARE YOU POLITICALLY CORRECT?

Here are some hints about how to "talk" about people with autism or its spectrum disorders

without (hopefully) offending anyone.

 

• Speak person first, then disability (Not autistic child but "child/individual with autism")

• Use descriptors such as " a person who has Asperger’s Disorder" not person who suffers from Asperger’s Disorder

• Describe autism as a collection of symptoms or a condition, not a disease.

• Use current terminology, such as seizures, not fits or spells to describe the additional conditions.

• Choice and independence are important, so let the person speak or communicate for himself as much as possible

• Disability is a functional limitation that interferes with a person’s ability to work, talk and learn; use the handicap to describe a situation, environment