this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2026
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Is It just be that loathes the word “autist”? Gives me real “Oriental” or “the blacks” vibes
No, I describe myself as an autist all the time.
I am an autistic. I am an autist.
Its a word that describes what I am.
If you get bad vibes from it, you may have some insecurities you need to handle.
Say it was Black instead. Can you not see how describing someone as “a black” could be dehumanising?
I am autistic. I am an autist.
I am schizophrenic. I am a schizoid.
I have Down’s Syndrome. I am a Down’s.
Or just disability in general.
I am blind. I am a blindist.
I am deaf. I am a deafist.
Or even just other self-describing words.
I am old. I am an oldist.
I am tall. I am a tallist.
I have zero insecurities about being autistic. I also dislike coy phrases like “on the spectrum”, which have the implication that there’s something wrong with saying that someone is autistic. Like it’s something to be ashamed of. It’s fine. I am autistic. You can say I’m autistic. That’s cool.
But that doesn’t mean that I should accept a term just because that’s what 4chan, WallStreetBets, and Gab popularised by using to put us down either by using it ironically or just by straight-up using it as an insult. You can make an argument for reclamation, perhaps, but I don’t think we’re there.
And, and perhaps this is just me, but isn’t it a horrible word? Phonetically?
As I’ve said, there seems to be no consensus in the autism community and one dividing line appears to be America vs. the UK
I am there.
That is exactly what I am doing.
Yep, autists are in fact different from other people, here I am, let me tell you and show you what's real and what is a harmful, false stereotype, or a common misunderstanding.
I'm also bi, queer.
Pretty sure the term queer had to be reclaimed, just like fag/faggot did, and was.
Autism and/or autists have for decades now suffered massively from being described and defined and represented in media by non-autists who perpetuate many extremely offensive and innacurate caricatures and misunderstsndings of autism.
It rarely occurs to a non autistic person to just actually ask an autistic person 'hey, what is it like to be autistic?'
We have tons of examples of 'autistic coded' characters in media being actually more accurate depictions of autism... than of characters that are explicitly stated to be autistic.
We have tons of even academics and psychologists/therapists that have basicslly only a surface level/caricature understanding of autism, you basically have to specialize in it, or just actually be autistic yourself to understand it better.
We have to represent ourselves, or we will continue to be misrepresented and misunderstood.
Anyway, as to the linguistics of ending a word with -ist seeming awkward to you...
Economist. Scientist. Artist. Martial Artist. Dentist. Journalist. Pianist. Pharmacist. Biologist. Dendochronologist. Archaelogist. Anthropologist.
Tourist. Cyclist. Motorcyclist.
Capitalist. Marxist. Anarchist. Pacifist. Environmentalist.
Optimist. Pessimist. Nilhist. Absurdist.
You're categorizing Autist as a word that indicates disability.
I'm categorizing it as a word that indicates common activities, knowledge sets, capabilities, skill sets, thought patterns, ways of thinking.
Autism is not a disability, to me.
Its a different way of existing, of being, one that is inherently not alterable.
Aside about Deaf Culture
(Talk to a lot of people born deaf and they'll often tell you the same, there's a whole culture there, you'll wind up with things like deaf people getting ostracized from the deaf community if/when they get implants or treatments that allow them to hear... I'm not deaf, I'm not well-versed in this, but I've known enough deaf people and people who work or interact with deaf people that I do know this is a thing)We can mask, we can try to pretend to be 'normal', we can even sometimes get pretty good at it, but it causes massive mental and physical overload and can lead to autistic burnout.
Or... we can just be ourselves and be more or less fine, if other people approach the concept of an autistic person more accurately, more realistically, with more humility than pre-baked stereotypes.
All the words you cited describe what people do or believe. Not what people are
I think it clearly is
There’s a saying “everybody has different abilities and needs, but ‘disability’ is a product of society”. You yourself list some of the struggles that we face. And these struggles more often than not have consequences beyond what you list - lack of employment, isolation, barriers to healthcare. Hell, our lifespans are shorter on average than allistic people. 5-10 years without any mental health comorbidities, and up to 20+ in people with comorbidities
All from existing in a society which is built around other people’s needs and which doesn’t account for ours
I don’t see how it can even be a question. And I say that as someone who firmly believes that if the stats were reversed and we made up 98-99% of the population and allistic people made up 1-2% of the population they would be the ones considered disabled because society would actually be built around us
And let’s not start shrugging off the term “disability” as if that itself is something to be shunned or ashamed of. There’s enough stigma around disability - particularly mental disability - without having it also come from inside the house
... I do not the mental bandwidth to attempt to fully delve into the level of linguistic/philosophical implications of you drawing that as a dividing line.
Its an element of one's identity.
Many people very much would say they are what they do, be it professionally, or in their free time.
I love food, I'm a foodie, I'm a gardener, I like to tend to gardens, I believe in Jesus, I am a Christian, etc.
... As to the 'disability is when society treats you differently' line of thinking...
Ok, then being poor, or a minority ethnicity is a disability. So is being a child of a single parent, so is not having access to adequate education.
My understanding of disability is I guess much more directly related to the human body, of which the mind, being essentially an ongoing activity performed by the brain, an element of the body, is a part.
I would consider a person with dyslexia to have a mental disability, because there are basically only detrimental effects to one's ability to perform a common mental task.
I would consider having only one fully functional leg to be a disability, as it significantly impedes many otherwise common tasks, not too many direct upsides to that.
Autism?
Autism is unironically my superpower.
I am very skilled at complex data analysis, I notice details others miss, I tend to be much more objective and blunt by default, which is very beneficial when dealing with data and systems, but I also notice tons of microexpressions and tonality variations that make it possible for me to be extremely empathetic, when I'm not too exhausted by the mental energy I need to expend to do that.
I can think systemically and specifically in a greater capacity and with greater ease than most non autists I've met. As such, I can write code, design mechanical things.
I can plan out beneficial routines and strategies for many socioeconomic scenarios, I have a comparatively heightened sense of my own explicit train of thought that allows me to know when I am getting emotionally disregulated to the point that I need to take a break and calm down, avoid burnout.
... My point here with all this is that I view Autism as more of ... well, what it literally is, a different paradigm by which a brain and mind operate.
And many of these things do grant abilities and propensities that are directly beneficial to many parts of just being a human doing human stuff, as well as being a person in a society.
Yes, Autism also comes with many drawbacks, compared to the baseline neurotypical.
But this is how I see it, why I don't see it as a disability in the same way you do.
Basically, I see it as a kind of different character build, or class, in an RPG.
Drawbacks in some areas, balanced out by aptitude in others.
Yeah, it may net out to generally being not overall positive, for the aggregate of people who are autistic.
But its not the same thing as a 'disability', which to me, is basically just a clear detriment, with no upsides.
Here's maybe a thought experiment:
Say that somehow, a human is born with tetrachromatic vision, can see colors other people can't, but also, is overwhelmed by many common visual scenarios that don't bother most people at all.
... Is this a disability?
Or a superpower?
... Or is it a different kind of being different?
Allow me to provide a thought-experiment illustration of what I mean by disability being a product of society.
There are three workspaces.
The first is on the 14th floor. There are no ramps and no lifts. All doors are operated via keycard above head height. All areas, work and rest, have rows of desks and chairs, all as one unit like in a fast food place or a picnic table.
The second is on the ground floor. All doors are operated by keycard at waist height. All areas, work and rest, have large adjustable desks, movable chairs, and plenty of space.
The third is a multi-storey office. All stories are connected only by ramps which are designed to allow fast descent of wheeled appliances and have an in-built braking mechanism at the bottom. The up ramps have a “stair-lift”-type mechanism designed for the smooth movement of wheeled appliances. All ceilings are at shoulder-height. There are no chairs at all.
I think it’s trivial to see how wheelchair uses would be at a disadvantage in the first environment, wheelchair users and non-wheelchair users would be equal in the second, and non-wheelchair users would be at a disadvantage in the third
In each scenario, wheelchair users and non-wheelchair users have different abilities and needs, but which one of them would be “disabled” is a product of that environment
The irony here is that dyslexia advocates use the exact same “superpower” language as you. In fact, there is an emerging school of thought in psychiatry and psychology that autism, dyslexia, ADHD, and OCD may all be differing presentations of the same underlying condition, in the same way that autism and Asperger’s used to be considered different conditions
But let’s look at a different disability, for the sake of clarity. You yourself have spoken about deaf pride. Ask yourself this - would the kind of deaf person who would shun someone for getting a cochlear implant take kindly to you characterising deafness as only having a downside?
I think a lot of disability advocates would take issue with your characterisation of disability
It’s regressive, stigmatising, and potentially harmful given that it can discourage those who need help from asking for help, and often the only way to get help is through disability services - and legislation. The reason why it’s illegal for employers in the UK not to provide accommodations for autistic people is because of its classification as a disability under the Equalities Act of 2010
Besides, you seem to be doing something that’s depressingly common amongst autistic people - of treating autism as if it’s just level 1 autism, while dismissing and ignoring those who have greater needs. Some people need 24/7 care because of the way their autism manifests. These people count. They are just as much “one of us” as you or me
Also, BTW, tetrachromats exist
I geneuinely do not understand the points you're making.
In a world of all autists, no autist is disabled. That's the third floor of your wheelchair analogy.
But... they would all still be autists.
Whereas in a world that I guess is managed by humanoid, ambulatory scifi robots that do all construction, to physically create and maintain wheelchair world...
The wheelchair folks are still disabled, they need the help of physically capable beings or things to exist in and maintain society.
... That is not the case for autism world.
Really what is the point you are driving at here?
Do what I just exampled right there, that's how you determine disability vs something else.
Dyslexic world could probably function differently, but overall, basically fine. They'd probably invent different forms of communication and symbolic langauge that work better for them.
Deaf world?
Could work, depending on what level of technological/socilogical development you choose as your starting point.
But if you pick an technologically/sociologically early point, well, lots of predators and threats make noises.
You're probably not going to find too many wheelchair bound people arguing that no, actually, an entire human society and civilization could arise and do just fine without the use of their legs.
To a great extent, I see what you are driving at, I suppose I am just trying to say that 'disability' is a hard thing to try to nail down with a very precise meaning.
Could we perhaps both agree that 'disability' requires considerstion from both the sociological and more direct, autonomy impacting viewpoints?
It also does seem to very much carry different connotations in the US vs UK.
You have clearly put a lot of thought into this, the vast majority of people I encounter are US, who are much more likely to simply view the term Autist as inherently an insult.
So, I apologize for the earlier snipe at you.
I assumed, and became an ass.
As to the level 1 vs other levels of Autism thing...
I've read a good deal of research pointing toward significantly different chemical and neuorological activity in the brain, where those with 'severe' (catatonic) autism... well, they can and have actually been treated for this.
Whereas those with level 1, non catatonic autism... no measurable effect, for that same treatment.
And, there are substantially different propoderances of various genetic markers beteeen those two groups as well, enough to be able to well predict 'severity' of autism with it.
So, no, actually, I am inclined to believe those are closer to two different things that have untill recently been thought of as different kinds of the same thing.
Again, I favor a very literal, materialistic and mechanical approach to all this, as opposed to the primarily psychological way of just trying to describe behaviors/symptoms and then just making up wild hypotheses based on clustering and distinctifying those, in some arbitrary hypothetical framework, that is then almost always shown to be significantly flawed or within the next 20ish years.
In fact, I would hazard to guess that you're an autistic woman, based on your dispreference for thinking of people fundamentally as mechanisms with feelings.
(Well that and 'SaraTonin')
This is a fairly well established beavior/mental difference between autistic men and women.
In fact, if you lived in the US, and are a woman, chances are you'd never have even been diagnosed as autistic, unless you came from a quite wealthy family.
You'd have just been 'gifted', erudite, bookish, something like that.
Our healthcare systems and cultures are very much not on par, we suck ass at even realizing autistic women can exist.
I'm not even formally diagnosed myself.
I got referred to a formal adult autist diagnoser years ago, after literal decades of teams of therapists giving me all kinds of random diagnoses.
But, then, my family decided that I was hallucinating my referral to an adult autism specialist, despite me showing them the paperwork.
Long story short, I then became homeless, barely survived that. Last time I talked to a doctor, a GP, general doctor, far, far away from the adult autism specialist with a literal multi year waitlist...
... They said that realistically, pursuing a formal diagnosis would just be a waste of time and effort on my part, given the state of the US healthcare system.
So yeah, there are some 'cultural' differences at play here.
I didn't know human tetrachromats actually existed.
That is very intriguing!
I'd only heard of certain people, very rarely, essentially developing a kind of shifted or altered perception of color after some kind of eye or brain or neurological injury or surgery.
…what? You think it’s literally impossible for wheelchair users to function to the point that a society created by and for wheelchair users would collapse without non-wheelchair users to look after them?
As for the rest of it, while I certainly believe that self-diagnosis is valid (and, indeed, there is a phrase “all diagnosis is self-diagnosis”), it’s also the case that even people with diagnoses often suffer from imposter syndrome. So what I will say is that if you keep encountering people who find your views on disability and terminology to be wrong-headed, as it seems you do, then it may be to your benefit to approach such conversations with a little more openness and a little more listening to what the rest of us have to say
100% yes.
Buildings will need to be built, repaired, maintained.
Tons and tons of agriculture is still massively reliant on human beings doing things we still can't figure out how to make robots do.
A wheelchair bound society would 100% need people to build the ramps and pathways for them.
As to the rest:
Oh, I don't regularly run into who find my views on the terminology of the term disability to be wrong-headed.
You're basically the only one.
I am doing my best to listen and tell you what I think of what you are saying, but apparently that is offensive to you.
Okey dokey!
Seems like you want to talk about this anymore, so, I will take my leave of this convo henceforth.
I'm not sure I've ever seen Autist used as an insult on Wallstreetbets, it's usually people referring to themselves as autists.
Exactly.
People assume its an insult, because they assume someone calling themself or another an autist... is deragatory.
Which only makes sense if you presume that it is bad to be autistic or an autist.
... Many autists do not see it this way.
They are offended by the idea that somebody would think it is an insult, though.
That's the kind of 'energy' or 'vibes' going on there.
Yes, that’s the irony. It’s allistic people calling themselves “autists” because they have a strong interest in something and act in stupid ways
To illustrate how it’s used there, you only need to look at the terms that it’s interchangable with: “idiots”, “smooth-brained”, and the r-word. This is not an example of positive representation
"This is an American."
You don't need to accept a term you don't like for yourself but others may not mind.
Btw, autistic brains exist outside the UK and the US. In German, it's becoming more common to say "Menschen mit Autismus" (people with autism) but I suspect that's actually more to do with an effort to de-gender because constructions like "Autistinnen und Autisten" (female autists and male autists) are clunky.
Also, your "blindist" and "deafist" don't exist in English which is why they sound weird, they do exist in German.
The “American” one would suggest “an autistic”, rather than “an autist”, no? He is American, he is an American.
I’ve said repeatedly that this isn’t a settled debate within the autism community, and at no point have I suggested that other people aren’t free to use whatever terms they want
I understand that. I’m specifically talking about the English word “autist”. Ich rede nicht über Deutsch.
I suppose that asks the question why is “autistic” one of (if not the) only example with a dedicated noun?
This may be an issue with English not differentiating precisely between most nouns and adjectives relating to countries. In my head "an American" is clearly a noun but that might be me. Better examples might be "a New Yorker" or "a Londoner".
You did say you don't want to accept a term just because it's popular and I was agreeing to that. The fact that we're talking about this seemed to suggest to me that you felt at least some pressure to conform to what everybody else is saying.
And I was drawing parallels between two very closely related languages of two closely related cultures. The words "autist" and "Autist/Autistin" are obviously related so it's interesting to see if there's differences in how they're used and what they are.
Language is under no obligation to be consistent and logical. Speakers of English for some reason didn't see need for dedicated nouns here and they dropped out of use (or never developed in the first place). Why English doesn't have a word for "doch" is beyond me but here we are. English also doesn't have dedicated nouns for "person from [country]", as we established above. Does that mean anything profound in particular? To my mind it suggests simply that English somehow tends to prefer adjectives.
No, not at all. There is no pressure I’ve encountered to use the term “autist”, and if I did feel pressure to conform on this subject I wouldn’t have continued to discuss it after my initial post was downvoted
In my experience living with an autistic husband and having working with many autistic people, they don’t mind the word at all and use it themselves.
As an autistic person with several autistic family members, friends, and associates, I’ve never met someone who used it or liked it
Perhaps it’s a US vs UK thing? I’ve only seen US and Canadian people use it, in the same way that I’ve only seen US people use the term “blacks“ when referring to black people
It has that connotation to me. And the fact that it’s the term of choice to use as an insult in places like 4chan and other edgelord spaces doesn’t help
Seems like it’s one of those things like “autistic person be ”person with autism“ where there’s no consensus within the community
I am in the “i dont have autism, i am autism” camp because i consider stereotypical autistic behavior to be “autisms”.
When neurotypicals start saying “they or everyone also have a little autism” what i understand is they have 1 or 2 autisms but besides those scenarios they are completely within classic norms. The difference then with someone like me is there is no situation in my life where i am not actively experiencing one or more autisms. I have never known anything else and i therefore developed my identity with autism as a core part of who i am.
This said, i would so much prefer that everyone used the term neurodivergent instead and left the term autism for professional medical diagnosis only. Its so much more inclusive, and vague enough people don’t stereotype it in assuming rainman/savantism.
I've only ever heard the term(?) used by people with whatever aspergers is being called these days. They used it to refer primarily to themselves. It's only 3 people though.
Aspergers has basically been rolled into Autism Spectrum Disorder, as of the DSM V.
More technically, its a more specific sort of set of behaviors/mannerisms/ways of thinking and acting, but, they all fall into the new category of ASD.
ASD is... a spectrum, of things that are different from the norm, Aspergers is basically a subset within that set, though many other subsets are possible and exist, in different instensities.