Day 200-something -- person first language?

I’m not too bothered about the language used, it’s just a condition that is part of who I am. I have blue eyes, I also have Autism - Blue eyed student, Autistic student. It’s the same thing to me.

Beckibuzz

I guess that it would be so much easier to switch back and forth with ILF and PLF if all people around us was much better educated and we with ADHD or ADD (and co-morbidity) could be less than teachers about neuro-diversity. Sometimes all people can take in is the conditions of the body, when we talk about the conditions of the brain the vast majority of people are zoning out of the discussion as fast as you are able to say ADHD.

Leelene Karlsson

Idenitty first! I'm kinda in the rarity of among a lot of my fellow ADHD friends, some people have even lectured me! lol

I'm kinda lazy about it. When I'm referring to JUST myself, especially around friends and loved ones, I'll shorten it to "I'm an ADHDer". Otherwise, I'll use one of the other forms, but until this vlog, I didn't realize that they have different meanings to some people. I'm now going to be extra observant of people's phraseology.

PackPuppy

I feel the same way either way. "I am a student with ADHD" "I am an ADHD student" both feel the same to me & only differ by the how a person learned english. it feels the same as replacing ADHD with you name. "I'm a student named John'' "I'm John, a student" it is me, nothing more, nothing less; I don't get hung up on potential hidden meanings in the order of words. I don't strive to be above ADHD, I strive to rise above the traits that don't make me a better version of myself; be it something from ADHD or not, though some of my ADHD traits can make that difficult. I just don't like being labeled lazy, when really I could be trying harder then the Labeler, relatively speaking, only because that person won't take the time to understand that it can take way more effort to achieve the same level of an end result as said person. also, love your dedication to detail, you can never please everyone, but I applaud your efforts to do so anyways. :)

LuckyFalkor

For me identity-first language is a way to combat the shame I dealt with growing up undiagnosed. To say I'm a person "with" ADHD minimizes it, makes it sound like a minor annoyance that's separate from me and that I should therefore be able to just work around, instead of a major factor in how my mind works. Identity-first language feels like proclaiming that I embrace ADHD as a part of me.

Renee

I used to think Person First was a good idea, but found it to perhaps be more... performative than functional for myself! Like, it seemed to make other people feel more comfortable talking about me who did not have a disability, or didn't share my particular ones - almost like they were relieved to just be talking to a person and the disability was merely some tacked on thing they didn't have to understand or accommodate. I feel it gave them permission to ignore it :'( I don't want to have to remind people I'm a person first, I'm all of these things mixed up in a great big soup! I'm done trying to work out where I begin and my diagnoses end.

I've noticed that when I refer to others I use person first "I have a friend with ADHD" not "I have an ADHD friend" but when I talk about myself I will say "I have ADHD" not "I'm a person with ADHD" because for me, having that identifier was something I never had up until a couple of years ago, and being able to cling to that is REALLY helpful sometimes. There ARE, however, other times where I almost NEED to separate myself from my ADHD because what "my brain" and what I want/need to do are two completely different things (not to say that's a necessarily...healthy coping mechanism, but it's what's working for me right now). Being able to say okay, I am a person with ADHD, I know my brain wants to lay down, snack, and watch YouTube all night, but I need to sit down and get out my book to read for class so I don't fall behind. When it comes to other things, like comorbid conditions, I tend to do one degree of separation ("the depression" instead of "my depression" or "I cope with depression" "the depression I cope with") because I need to remind myself that I am not my conditions. For me, ADHD is a REALLY positive thing, because it helps explains why I am the way I am, while my comorbid conditions can send me into some pretty negative thought spirals, so it helps to separate myself by one degree at a time until I can get back into a positive mindset. TLDR: It depends on the person, the condition, and the positive/negative connotations; but I would never make the decision for someone else whether they should use person first language or not.

Madalen Jade Wallaker

OK that is too deep. It does not matter to me. I am interchangeable, but I do not tell everyone. LOL They could not possibly figure it out! I do the I have or the I am sometimes if it is a friend who knows me, as well Kristina D Knight. I think I need a diet coke to ponder that! Because I can:) I love that commercial, for people look at you like you are having something illegal or smoking a cigarette. sorry …….I went off topic. Butterfly

Lisa Focus

Oh I have a lot to say about this but I've got a meeting in half an hour and I need to be more awake for posting (and for the meeting! MOAR COFFEE!) so I'll try to come back later to explain myself. Short version -- I'm not a fan of person-first language for my ADHD brain, BUT identifying myself *as* ADHD (rather than *with* ADHD) is complicated by the fact that we don't have a linguistically simple way of stating it the way we do with "I am autistic" or "I am diabetic." So I often find myself saying "I have ADHD" for the sake of simplicity even though it doesn't feel quite true.

Kristina D Knight

The very intresting thing is that

Outdoorsy