Speaking in Person First language as an OT

We're all guilty of it, identifying a person based on their diagnosis and not their name. Even if you were just talking to your other coworkers about the person, or other health care professionals, we sometimes tend to speak without stopping to think about what we should say. Person First language is a type of language that is designed to put a person before their disability, and to help other people not use a person’s disability as a label. For example: someone could say, "That is an Autistic child". When saying this, it automatically degrades the child and disrespects them as an individual. However, when using person first language the person should say " That is a child with Autism". This is something that I feel very strongly about especially in my future career as an occupational therapist. As therapists, our job is to be filling people with positively and doing the complete opposite of labeling people just by their disabilities! No one should be defined by their disabilities, and occupational therapy is all about being an advocate for that. I also think that by using person first language, our treatments will be more effective because we will be creating a positive atmosphere for our patients and clients to feel comfortable in.  When a patient feels respected by you, they are more likely to stay engaged in treatment sessions, and are more motivated to work with you on things.