When people use person-first language, they often say it’s because they don’t want disabled people to be defined by their disability. However, phrases like “person with Autism” distance a person’s disabled status from their humanity in a way that can be quite harmful. Autism is not a thing that is added on to a person—it’s integral to their life and cannot be removed from who they are. We don’t call Asian people “people with Asianness” and we don’t call gay folks “people with homosexuality” because we recognize it is respectful to view these identities as parts of their personhood.
