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‘It's like calling short people vertically challenged’: Language and terminology preferences among neurodivergent adults in the United Kingdom

Amy Pearson Orcid Logo, Aimee Grant Orcid Logo, Jennifer Leigh, Stephen J Macdonald Orcid Logo, Kathryn Williams Orcid Logo, Gemma Williams Orcid Logo, Elliott Spaeth, Kieran Rose Orcid Logo, Ann Memmott, Monique Botha Orcid Logo

Neurodiversity, Volume: 4

Swansea University Author: Aimee Grant Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1177/27546330261428235

Abstract

Neurodivergent people (e.g., dyslexic people) do not always agree with the terms commonly used by others (e.g., professionals) to describe their neurodivergence. Our mixed methods study aimed to investigate terminology preferences for different categories of developmental neurodivergence (e.g., auti...

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Published in: Neurodiversity
ISSN: 2754-6330 2754-6330
Published: SAGE Publications 2026
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa71747
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last_indexed 2026-05-09T05:05:16Z
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spelling 2026-05-08T14:01:31.0971147 v2 71747 2026-04-15 ‘It's like calling short people vertically challenged’: Language and terminology preferences among neurodivergent adults in the United Kingdom 6a1ce3bc54c692c804e858b70d2e4bd2 0000-0001-7205-5869 Aimee Grant Aimee Grant true false 2026-04-15 HSOC Neurodivergent people (e.g., dyslexic people) do not always agree with the terms commonly used by others (e.g., professionals) to describe their neurodivergence. Our mixed methods study aimed to investigate terminology preferences for different categories of developmental neurodivergence (e.g., autism, dyspraxia) among people from those communities. Participants (n = 902) completed an online survey, ranking the likeability and offensiveness of a range of person-first and identify-first terms for their diagnoses. We invited them to tell us reasons for their preferences via open text response, which we analysed using thematic analysis. Paired samples on identity vs. person first preferences showed identity first language was significantly more likeable, and significantly less offensive for most categories, but not all (stuttering and Tourette syndrome). For the thematic analysis, we developed two key themes, (1) ‘How they talk about us’, which focussed on the inadequacy of existing terminology, and the stigma associated with particular labels, and (2) ‘How we talk about us’, which focussed on viscerality of certain terms, agency to express personal preferences, debates around identity vs. person first terms, and identification with the concept of ‘disability’. Our findings have implications for how neurodivergent people are described, especially by those in professional services. Journal Article Neurodiversity 4 SAGE Publications 2754-6330 2754-6330 Neurodiversity, neurodivergent, terminology, language, autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, dyspraxia 31 12 2026 2026-12-31 10.1177/27546330261428235 COLLEGE NANME Health and Social Care School COLLEGE CODE HSOC Swansea University Not Required The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. 2026-05-08T14:01:31.0971147 2026-04-15T12:09:57.8144647 Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences School of Health and Social Care - Public Health Amy Pearson 0000-0001-7089-6103 1 Aimee Grant 0000-0001-7205-5869 2 Jennifer Leigh 3 Stephen J Macdonald 0000-0003-4409-9535 4 Kathryn Williams 0000-0001-7274-3493 5 Gemma Williams 0000-0002-5162-0440 6 Elliott Spaeth 7 Kieran Rose 0000-0003-4455-7380 8 Ann Memmott 9 Monique Botha 0000-0002-5935-9654 10 71747__36686__abd2ce6eef984e48be14a0b7cbc9ef07.pdf 71747.VOR.pdf 2026-05-08T13:56:36.4760019 Output 1000401 application/pdf Version of Record true © The Author(s) 2026. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License. true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
title ‘It's like calling short people vertically challenged’: Language and terminology preferences among neurodivergent adults in the United Kingdom
spellingShingle ‘It's like calling short people vertically challenged’: Language and terminology preferences among neurodivergent adults in the United Kingdom
Aimee Grant
title_short ‘It's like calling short people vertically challenged’: Language and terminology preferences among neurodivergent adults in the United Kingdom
title_full ‘It's like calling short people vertically challenged’: Language and terminology preferences among neurodivergent adults in the United Kingdom
title_fullStr ‘It's like calling short people vertically challenged’: Language and terminology preferences among neurodivergent adults in the United Kingdom
title_full_unstemmed ‘It's like calling short people vertically challenged’: Language and terminology preferences among neurodivergent adults in the United Kingdom
title_sort ‘It's like calling short people vertically challenged’: Language and terminology preferences among neurodivergent adults in the United Kingdom
author_id_str_mv 6a1ce3bc54c692c804e858b70d2e4bd2
author_id_fullname_str_mv 6a1ce3bc54c692c804e858b70d2e4bd2_***_Aimee Grant
author Aimee Grant
author2 Amy Pearson
Aimee Grant
Jennifer Leigh
Stephen J Macdonald
Kathryn Williams
Gemma Williams
Elliott Spaeth
Kieran Rose
Ann Memmott
Monique Botha
format Journal article
container_title Neurodiversity
container_volume 4
publishDate 2026
institution Swansea University
issn 2754-6330
2754-6330
doi_str_mv 10.1177/27546330261428235
publisher SAGE Publications
college_str Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofmedicinehealthandlifesciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofmedicinehealthandlifesciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences
department_str School of Health and Social Care - Public Health{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Health and Social Care - Public Health
document_store_str 1
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description Neurodivergent people (e.g., dyslexic people) do not always agree with the terms commonly used by others (e.g., professionals) to describe their neurodivergence. Our mixed methods study aimed to investigate terminology preferences for different categories of developmental neurodivergence (e.g., autism, dyspraxia) among people from those communities. Participants (n = 902) completed an online survey, ranking the likeability and offensiveness of a range of person-first and identify-first terms for their diagnoses. We invited them to tell us reasons for their preferences via open text response, which we analysed using thematic analysis. Paired samples on identity vs. person first preferences showed identity first language was significantly more likeable, and significantly less offensive for most categories, but not all (stuttering and Tourette syndrome). For the thematic analysis, we developed two key themes, (1) ‘How they talk about us’, which focussed on the inadequacy of existing terminology, and the stigma associated with particular labels, and (2) ‘How we talk about us’, which focussed on viscerality of certain terms, agency to express personal preferences, debates around identity vs. person first terms, and identification with the concept of ‘disability’. Our findings have implications for how neurodivergent people are described, especially by those in professional services.
published_date 2026-12-31T06:30:00Z
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