« Avec autisme », « autiste », « sur le spectre », « avec un TSA »? Étude des préférences de dénomination et des facteurs pouvant les influencer auprès de la population française

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Bureau, R., Dachez, J., Riebel, M., Weiner, L., & Clément, C. (2024). « Avec autisme », « autiste », « sur le spectre », « avec un TSA »? Étude des préférences de dénomination et des facteurs pouvant les influencer auprès de la population française. Annales Médico-psychologiques, revue psychiatrique, 183(1), 19-25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amp.2024.03.015

Publication date: 28 May 2024 Added to AutiHub: 7 Sep 2026 Type: Article Article language: French
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Authors

Publication authors
5
Publication authors identified as autistic
2 / 5 (40.0%)
  1. Raven Bureau *
  2. Julie Dachez *
  3. Marie Riebel
  4. Luisa Weiner
  5. Céline Clément

Abstract

Le langage utilisé pour nommer les personnes directement concernées par l’autisme continue de faire débat. Alors que les préférences des personnes concernées semblent identifiées en anglais, l’étude des préférences des personnes francophones reste encore marginale. Lors d’une étude quantitative les participant(e)s pouvaient sélectionner leur préférence en termes de dénomination afin d’y faire correspondre l’affichage des items. À partir de ces sélections et d’éléments relevés lors de leur participation (âge, genre, statut diagnostic, score d’auto-stigmatisation et évaluation du sentiment de honte internalisée), nous analysons leurs sélections et les éventuels facteurs pouvant l’influencer. Une préférence pour « personne autiste » se dégage clairement parmi les personnes directement concernées par l’autisme. « Avec autisme », pourtant régulièrement utilisée dans le milieu professionnel, se classe régulièrement dernière, quelle que soit le groupe étudié. Parmi les facteurs pouvant influencer le choix de manière significative, nous avons identifié: le statut diagnostic l’âge, le genre et le sentiment de honte internalisée. Bien que des préférences semblent se dégager, il n’existe pas d’unanimité quant au choix de dénomination. Nous encourageons les professionnel(le)s à interroger leurs choix et à proposer plusieurs possibilités aux personnes qu’ils/elles accompagnent. Autism-related language preferences are increasingly studied. While there are some guidelines established in international journals and a relatively clear consensus when it comes to the English language, studies in other languages are still rare. When it comes to this conversation, the preferences are often split between person-first language and identity first language (i.e., person with autism or autistic person). Some languages, such as French, have a different grammatical construction: the adjective comes after the noun, which leads to “person” always coming first. However, the presence of the “with” still leads to the same conversation as happens in English when it comes to “separating” the person from their autism. Our study expands on previously published results regarding French-speaking adults’ language preferences when it comes to autism, as well as identifying some factors that could be related to these choices. While participating in a larger survey regarding autistic masking and mental health, participants were invited to select their language preference amongst four options (autistic person, person with autism, person on the autism spectrum and person with Autism Spectrum Disorder) so that the items would reflect their choice throughout the questionnaires. One thousand seven hundred and fifty-seven responses were collected, split in 4 groups: 689 formally diagnosed autistic persons, 265 persons on a waitlist for autism assessment, 353 persons self-identifying as autistic and 450 non-autistic persons. Chi-square independence tests were conducted to identify potential factors that could influence language preferences. IFL (autistic person) was favored by the formerly diagnosed autistic group (65%), the self-identified group (46.7%) and the waitlist group (49.1%). The non-autistic group was the only one to favor PFL (person with ASD) (39.1%). Age was significantly associated with language preference, with younger people endorsing IFL while people aged 56 and over favored PFL (but IFL was favored when the non-autistic group was excluded from the analysis). Gender was also significantly associated with language preference, with non-binary people overwhelmingly endorsing IFL (71.8% in the total sample, 76.5% when excluding the non-autistic group). Being cisgender was another factor that was significantly associated with language preference, with TGD people also showing a major preference for IFL. Self-stigma was not associated with language preference. Finally, internalized shame was also associated with language preference, with people showing a lower level of internalized shame showing more preference for IFL than those with a higher level of internalized shame. Overall, our results confirm a strong preference for IFL in autistic French-speaking adults and highlight some factors such as age, gender, and internalized shame that could play a role in these preferences. This study was not a study on language preferences and we might not have covered the whole range of possible preferences. Other limits include a self-reported diagnosis status and the inability to reach people with higher support needs. We encourage researchers to include in their data collection forms the possibility for the participants to choose their preferred language.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 13 Sep 2026 01:04.

Cited references
31
With a DOI
28
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
2
9 / 31 (29.0%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
1 / 31 (3.2%)
References with detected author names
30 / 31 (96.8%)
Without detected author names
1
Without a structured title
0
Without a stable identifier
2
References with raw author names still to review
0
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
119
From DOI or external metadata
119
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
76 / 119 (63.9%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 43 / 119 (36.1%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
18 / 119 (15.1%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 18 / 76 (23.7%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 16 / 106 (15.1%).
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