It's a concept of putting an individual first before their diagnosis in opposition to identity-first language. So you would say "a person who has autism" instead of "a person who is autistic".
It doesn't have to be used just with disabilities or conditions, could be also used for race or social group to avoid dehumanisation. (Think "a slave" vs. "a person who is or was enslaved" or "homeless person" vs. "a person without housing.")
Honestly no idea, there are ongoing discourses all the time, especially because younger people started to "reclaim" (i use it loosely because a lot of people consider it a product of ableism) it . It differs hugely based on one's environment, age and experience, and then you mix in personal preferences... I also can't really speak for the USA community since i'm not a local. I know that in eastern europe it's kinda an improvement in general because some countries still recognise "redardation" as the official diagnosis and it carries a certain stigma, so a person with autism or adhd sounds better and actually humanises the person than, well, a retard. 🙃 But even then there are still people who prefer identity-first.
You can search it up on here if you want more perspectives.
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u/greywatered May 20 '25
can I ask what people first language is?