De Laet Hannah, Nijhof Annabel D, Wiersema Jan R
Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
EXPLORA, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
J Autism Dev Disord. 2025 Jun;55(6):2027-2033. doi: 10.1007/s10803-023-06192-3. Epub 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.
近年来，用于指代被诊断患有自闭症谱系障碍的人的正确语言受到了广泛关注。在英语国家进行的研究发现，自闭症成年人中主要存在身份优先语言（IFL）偏好（例如“自闭症患者”），而非人优先语言（PFL）偏好（例如“患有自闭症的人”）。然而，最近在一个讲荷兰语的国家（荷兰）进行的一项研究报告了人优先语言偏好（布伊斯曼等人，2023年）。本研究的目的是深入了解两个讲荷兰语国家的语言偏好，并且与以往研究不同的是，让参与者可以选择表明没有特定的语言偏好。在本研究中，我们邀请了414名居住在比利时或荷兰的讲荷兰语的自闭症成年人填写一份关于他们语言偏好的在线问卷。我们发现，超过一半的参与者有人优先语言偏好（54%），其次是没有偏好（27%）。只有14%的人有身份优先语言偏好，5%的人提出了其他术语。与有人优先语言偏好相比，受教育年限更长被确定为有身份优先语言偏好的一个预测因素，而与有人优先语言偏好相比，年龄更大则预测没有偏好。大多数讲荷兰语的自闭症成年人表现出人优先语言偏好，这与英语国家的研究结果相反，但与荷兰最近进行的一项研究（布伊斯曼等人，2023年）一致。本文讨论了这一发现对语言使用的影响。
