Socially Effective Versus Clinically Accepted Autism Vocabulary
What words do you use to talk about autism? Do you stick to the clinically accepted jargon or do you use words anyone can understand?
It’s easy for people, those of us on the spectrum as well as our family and friends, to assume that the language clinicians and educators use to talk about autism traits are “correct.” However, these words are jargon. They only have meaning to people who have researched or self-educated about autism or related neurodiversities. I’ve noticed that if I use these jargon terms in “mixed” company — aka in situations where there are neurotypical people — I end up having to explain the words, which takes a million times longer than necessary to communicate a simple “I need to take a moment for myself” message.
There’s an awesome book called Black Fatigue by Mary-Frances Winters, which discusses all the little and big things that drain energy from people of color. These are things like micro-agressions, unconscious bias, white people expecting POCs to educate them rather than taking initiative to educate themselves, structural bias, etc. I found this book to be fascinating, because the concepts apply to every kind of difference: women, non-white, non-cishet gender or sexual identity, and any form of…
