Pubmed du 24/12/23
1. Caldwell-Harris C, Schwartz AM. Listening to autistic voices regarding competing for social status. Autism;2023 (Dec 24):13623613231217057.
Human social organizations are complex. Yet little research exists on autistic people’s attitudes about social hierarchies. Clinicians and the medical establishment regard social deficits as a key aspect of autism. If social deficits are paramount, then we expect autistic people to have difficulty navigating social hierarchies. We reject the premise of social deficits (while acknowledging that social misunderstandings interfere in the daily life of autistics) but suggest that researchers learn by listening to what autistic adults say about social hierarchies. We review writings by autistic people, including advice books, memoirs, book reviews, online discussion posts, and the mission-statement of an autistic-led organization. These suggest that autistic people find status-seeking illogical and prefer egalitarian relationships. The consistency of these themes across different types of writings is a reason for researchers to systematically study reduced status-seeking in autistic individuals.
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2. De Laet H, Nijhof AD, Wiersema JR. Adults with Autism Prefer Person-First Language in Dutch: A Cross-Country Study. J Autism Dev Disord;2023 (Dec 23)
The correct language to refer to someone with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder has received a lot of attention in recent years. Studies in English-speaking countries found a main identity-first language (IFL) preference (e.g. autistic person) opposed to a person-first language preference (PFL) (e.g. person with autism) among adults with autism. However, a recent study conducted in a Dutch-speaking country (the Netherlands) reported a PFL preference (Buijsman et al., 2023). The goal of the current study was to gain insights into language preferences in two Dutch-speaking countries and, in contrast to previous studies, give participants the option to indicate not having a specific language preference. In the current study, we asked 414 Dutch-speaking adults with autism, living either in Belgium or the Netherlands, to fill in an online questionnaire about their language preference. We found that over half of the participants had a PFL preference (54%), followed by having no preference (27%). Only 14% of them had an IFL preference, and 5% proposed another term. Having more years of education was identified as a predictor for having an IFL preference when compared to a PFL preference, while being older predicted having no preference compared to a PFL preference. The majority of Dutch-speaking adults with autism showed a PFL preference, which is in contrast to findings from English-speaking countries, but in accord with a recent study conducted in the Netherlands (Buijsman et al., 2023). Implications of this finding for language use are discussed.
