« Avec autisme », « autiste », « sur le spectre », « avec un TSA » ? Étude des préférences de dénomination et des facteurs pouvant les influencer auprès de la population française

Introduction

Autism-related language preferences are increasingly studied. While there are some guidelines established in international journals and a relatively clear consensus when it comes to the English language, studies in other languages are still rare. When it comes to this conversation, the preferences are often split between person-first language and identity first language (i.e., person with autism or autistic person). Some languages, such as French, have a different grammatical construction: the adjective comes after the noun, which leads to “person” always coming first. However, the presence of the “with” still leads to the same conversation as happens in English when it comes to “separating” the person from their autism. Our study expands on previously published results regarding French-speaking adults’ language preferences when it comes to autism, as well as identifying some factors that could be related to these choices.

Methods

While participating in a larger survey regarding autistic masking and mental health, participants were invited to select their language preference amongst four options (autistic person, person with autism, person on the autism spectrum and person with Autism Spectrum Disorder) so that the items would reflect their choice throughout the questionnaires. One thousand seven hundred and fifty-seven responses were collected, split in 4 groups: 689 formally diagnosed autistic persons, 265 persons on a waitlist for autism assessment, 353 persons self-identifying as autistic and 450 non-autistic persons. Chi-square independence tests were conducted to identify potential factors that could influence language preferences.

Results

IFL (autistic person) was favored by the formerly diagnosed autistic group (65%), the self-identified group (46.7%) and the waitlist group (49.1%). The non-autistic group was the only one to favor PFL (person with ASD) (39.1%). Age was significantly associated with language preference, with younger people endorsing IFL while people aged 56 and over favored PFL (but IFL was favored when the non-autistic group was excluded from the analysis). Gender was also significantly associated with language preference, with non-binary people overwhelmingly endorsing IFL (71.8% in the total sample, 76.5% when excluding the non-autistic group). Being cisgender was another factor that was significantly associated with language preference, with TGD people also showing a major preference for IFL. Self-stigma was not associated with language preference. Finally, internalized shame was also associated with language preference, with people showing a lower level of internalized shame showing more preference for IFL than those with a higher level of internalized shame.

Discussion

Overall, our results confirm a strong preference for IFL in autistic French-speaking adults and highlight some factors such as age, gender, and internalized shame that could play a role in these preferences. This study was not a study on language preferences and we might not have covered the whole range of possible preferences. Other limits include a self-reported diagnosis status and the inability to reach people with higher support needs. We encourage researchers to include in their data collection forms the possibility for the participants to choose their preferred language.