I’d like to start off by saying I have autism.
Many people - autistic and otherwise - have debated whether to refer to us as autistic people, or people with autism.
I’m aware that some people with autism prefer the former description, autistic people. Personally, I don’t mind either description. I’d guess most of us aren’t that bothered, although I don’t know for sure.
That being said, the latter description, people with autism, is widely considered to be more politically correct.
Neurotypical people will visit this community, and we don’t want to offend them by using the incorrect term to describe ourselves.
/s, by the way. Never let an NT tell you what to call yourself.
I’m not ND, but I have a child who is ND and I hang out in the spaces. I don’t think even between autistic people there is a consensus. I say “autistic person” because I consider autism to be a fundamental trait like blindness or height. We don’t say “person with blindness” or “person with height” we say “blind person” and “tall person”. Autism is something you are born with and something that cannot be changed about you, so thus it’s “autistic people” for me, but I’ve seen autistic people who’ve been offended by “autistic people” and wanted people to say “people with autism”. I’m not sure it’s battle that can be won if there’s not consensus within the group about it.