Person first language is one of the biggest debates in social/behavioural/health sciences right now. Some argue there is no place for person first labels, I disagree.

In some settings we need to move towards person first labels...
{a thread}

For context...
Firstly, I do work in forensic mental health and with people who have a range of complex mental, developmental, physical health conditions. I’ve recently submitted my PhD concerning perceptions of mental illness (and offending behaviour)

It is not my place to tell anyone how they should label themselves and I always make an effort to ask all friends, colleagues, service users, patients, how they want to be referred to and what they see as their identity

Recently there’s been a lot of advocacy (rightly so) for people to be referred to as autistic for example rather than “person with autism” and moves away from person first language. In this thread I am not talking about people reclaiming their identity in a positive way...

But rather the negative connotations that come with a lot of labelling of people with certain mental health conditions and labels based on past behaviours (especially in forensic settings). This thread is inspired by the work of @GeriAkerman concerning the impact of labels.

Historically schizophrenia is one of the most stigmatised conditions & is strongly associated with perceptions of dangerousness. Research has found that using person first language like person with schizophrenia rather than schizophrenic does appear to reduce negative attitudes

In addition to this, the phrase person with an offending history rather than “offender” encourages more positive perceptions about that individual and less negative perceptions about their rehabilitation prospects and risk.

I could go on for hours... but to summarise, there is a place for person first language when the “label” will cause more harm and stigma than using a person first phrase. I hope this makes sense & feel free to reply with any questions.

I’m hoping to publish the chapter in my PhD thesis that explains this in more detail later this year