Identity or Person First Phrasing
Posted: 09 Sep 2023, 18:12
In the editor’s notes on my review I was corrected on use of identity first phrasing. While I don’t have a preference of my own I was trying to respect the prevailing opinion on this specific instance, which is to say, “autistic person”, not “person with autism”. Of course, the opinions in a disability or advocacy space are going to be very different from grammar rules, so I may have adopted technically incorrect phrasing by habit.
Here’s the correction (evidently I need to use more commas, whoops):
“From being in their heads with them[,] I’m pretty sure everyone in this book is[has] varying degrees of autistic but frankly that just lends to the Star Trek feel.”
Like I said, I thought this came down to preference. However, grammar is clearly not a strong suite of mine. If someone could point me to how identity first violates international grammar I’d be really appreciative. I’m much more likely to retain and act on a correction if I understand why I am wrong. Thanks!
Here’s the correction (evidently I need to use more commas, whoops):
“From being in their heads with them[,] I’m pretty sure everyone in this book is[has] varying degrees of autistic but frankly that just lends to the Star Trek feel.”
Like I said, I thought this came down to preference. However, grammar is clearly not a strong suite of mine. If someone could point me to how identity first violates international grammar I’d be really appreciative. I’m much more likely to retain and act on a correction if I understand why I am wrong. Thanks!