Why I dislike “person first” Language

By J. Sinclair. 2013

273 citations recorded by the source corpus.

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

What should autism research focus upon? Community views and priorities from the United Kingdom (2014, background): “The term ‘autistic person’ is the preferred language of many people on the spectrum (e.g. Sinclair, 1999).”
Improving research about us, with us: a draft framework for inclusive autism research (2017, methodology): “We use the identity-first language preferred by many autistic individuals (Sinclair, 2013) in addition to the person-first alternative recommended by the American Psychological Association, as avoiding one form of language would imply its superiority over the other.”
Making the future together: Shaping autism research through meaningful participation (2018, background): “Identity-first language (e.g. autistic people) is the preferred language of many people on the autism spectrum (see Sinclair, 2013) and their parents (Kenny et al., 2016).”
Excluded from school: Autistic students’ experiences of school exclusion and subsequent re-integration into school (2017, methodology): “Therefore, in this article, the authors use predominantly identity-first language (see Gernsbacher, 2017; Kenny et al., 2016; Sinclair, 1999).”