We have created a free and downloadable guide that can be used by anyone who talks to or about autistic people.
Download and print for free:
An explanatory text document
- Click here for the alt-text versions of the poster and the document
- Click here for the references and bibliography for all the research and papers that informed the creation of the guide
This guide is intended to be used by…
- Healthcare professionals
- Teachers and educators
- Social workers and care workers
- Family and friends of autistic people
- Journalists/ writers/ academics
Anyone talking about autistic people should know which language is affirming, and which language dehumanises and stigmatises.
The way autistic people are spoken about should be decided by autistic people. So this guide has incorporated research and papers that found the language the majority of autistic people are comfortable with.
The autistic community are not one unified voice so we always recommend that If the autistic person you are talking to expresses a specific preference for the language you use, then this should be respected.
There are many blog posts, articles, and even other downloadable guides that are all saying the same things. But the only way this guide is going to make a difference is if it spread widely and actually used in practice.
It will be most useful if…
- It is used in the training of professionals, for example, during teacher training, or medical training.
- It is circulated by large and influential organisations
- It is seen by professionals of all kinds who are working first-hand with autistic people
Use this guide in the training of professionals so they will not have to later UNLEARN harmful misinformation.
Help us to get the guide spread as wide as possible!
Maybe you could…
- Put a link to the guide on your website
- Use it in the training of your employees
- Print the poster and display it in your workplace
- Share it on social media
If you have any questions about how you can help, please contact us using the details at the bottom of this page
We are an autonomous workgroup within CAPTAP (Community Against Prejudice Towards Autistic People).
Our workgroup includes people from multiple countries with varying experiences.
The majority of the group’s members are autistic, and the group comprises medical doctors, health professionals, professionals working with autistic people, academics, and researchers.
We gathered all the existing research, articles and already-existing guides we could find about language preferences. These can be found here.
We also pooled our own expertise and discussed what we would like the guide to include. Over time, we collaboratively developed the final guide.
The guide reflects both the autistic expertise in our group, and our group members who are non-autistic professionals working in the field.
Have any questions or wish to discuss the guide?
CAPTAP 
4 responses to “”
[…] Oct 2023 – An extensive guide to humanising language has been produced by the Community Against Prejudice Towards Autistic People, and Aucademy welcomes its use, feel free to […]
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[…] Everything on this guide is spot on and I’d recommend reading this: https://captapnetwork.wordpress.com/2023/09/19/how-to-talk/ […]
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[…] Learning how to feel genuinely safe, learning how to push back and delegitimise entrenched social power gradients, and learning how to extend trust the wisdom of those on the margins of society is not something that can be achieved in a 1-day education course or even in a week long education course. Like learning how to ride a bike it takes practice, and like mastering a craft, a profession, or a scientific discipline, as noted in the guidelines from the WHO framework for meaningful engagement, it takes extensive guidance from those with relevant lived experience. […]
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[…] the social unacceptability of Autistic ways of being is enshrined in discriminatory laws, dehumanising pathologising language, continued use of traumatising “normalisation” therapies, ruthless economic […]
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