Is Autism an Identity?

There’s a big difference between saying “an autistic person” and “a person with autism”.

By and large, most autistic people prefer identity-first language, and they think it is important because it is impossible to separate them from their autism. There is no non-autistic version of me; I am an autistic person. Similarly, there is no non-English version of me, so I am an English person. Autism is part of who I am. It’s not like my clothes.

Consider the difference between these two statements:

A: John is a scruffy person.

B: John is a person who looks scruffy.

A is much stronger than B, and that’s what most autistic people say their relation to autism is like. It’s part of who they are.

By contrast, many people who care for those with autism prefer person-first language. They are a person; the autism is secondary. It emphasises their common humanity and value; it makes it clear that prejudice against people with autism is prejudice against people.

There’s a Christian slant on this too. Some Christians argue that our primary identity as Christians should be found in Christ rather than in any other feature.

But I don’t think the use of identity-first language does that. I don’t have a problem saying I’m a British person, for example. Britishness is not the primary feature of my identity, but it is nevertheless true in this present world.

The other Christian angle on this stems from Paul’s famous statement in Galatians 3.28.

There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Some people conclude that it’s inappropriate to describe Christians by race – that we should be race-blind and treat all people the same.

But that is to miss the whole point of what Paul wrote!

Paul’s point is that God treats Jew and Gentile the same, but the Galatians were treating them differently by insisting on Jewish-derived standards for Christian behaviour. By saying “you are all one in Christ Jesus”, Paul states what God has accomplished in Christ, and then calls the Galatians to live it out in the way they act.

Race shouldn’t be an issue in Christ, but all too often it is in the church. Hence Galatians 3.28.

Neurodivergence shouldn’t be an issue in Christ. We should treat people equally, not treating one person’s neurotypical preferences as more important or holding more weight than another person’s autistic preferences. But all too often we don’t.

Prof. Brian Brock put it well when being interviewed on the CAT podcast:

Could the church be a place where being autistic doesn’t cause suffering? Absolutely. Is it? Not often enough.

When we look forward to the future, we look forward to God’s people experiencing and seeing true unity in diversity in Jesus. We look forward to the day where there is no more privileging of the neurotypical perspective and no more need for the label “autistic”, because of what God has done for us in Christ.

But sadly, that isn’t yet; Paul made his amazing statements in Galatians precisely because his readers still needed to hear them. We are one in Christ; the Galatians needed to learn to live like it, and so do we.