| In the bin | Keep, practice, and role model |
| Person with autism On the spectrum Autism Disease Disorder Illness Mental illness Problem Issue Deficit Impairment Pathological Challenging Violent Low functioning High functioning Severe/mild autism Traits Symptoms Risk of autism Cure Treatment Intervention Strategies Behaviour Special interests | Autistic person Neurodevelopmental difference Neurodivergence Difference Challenged by e.g. the environment Anxious; distressed; meltdown Support need/s – and be specific Experience/s; expression/s (JUST AVOID) Improve wellbeing (not change autism) Feelings/emotions – inner world Specialisation/s |
A rose by any other name would smell…of stigma (or, the psychologically important difference between being a “person with autism” or an Autistic person)…
Question: Is identifying with social groups beneficial to people’s health and wellbeing? Whilst marking undergrad essays on this question back in 2020 – my mind began to wander, as it is prone to do, to Autistic things. Although my PhD was in the field of social psychology – where I attempted to reduce mental health stigma with the neurodiversity narrative – I had become so engrossed in my little sliver of the field I forgot about other social psychological theories and approaches. I researched the references my students were citing and made a short Twitter thread of my thoughts regarding the psychologically important difference between being a “person with autism” and an Autistic person. The difference between belonging to a stigmatised group, and the social cure properties of strongly identifying with an Autistic identity…article continued here.