M.A.D. 4 Mav

Found this on my google adventure search today. This is what i was tryign to say last week.
You can read the rest here http://www.marshfieldnewsherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080501/MNH06/805010303/1785

Remember the 'person first'
Editor: I want to start off by thanking the News-Herald for their week-long series on autism. It is important that the public gets an insight into what it is like to live with autism. I do, however, have one complaint on how the articles were written.

Several times throughout all of the articles the phrase "autistic child" was used. In my work with these children, I was taught by a parent who strongly advocated for her son, that there is such thing as "person first" language. People should not be defined by their disability/condition, but rather should be referred to as a person first. Instead of "autistic child", you would say "a child with autism," hence the phrase "person first."

When I first was made aware of this, I thought it was just political correctness going a little far. However, after spending many hours with children and families affected by autism, I realized that it really does matter how you phrase things. There are real people behind autism, as shown in the articles this past week.

All I ask is that people are aware that there is a more respectful way to refer to people who are different than us and we should do our best to use "person first" language whenever we can. WENDY CANTARELLA