President Trump referred to autism as a “horror show” in a televised cabinet meeting this week. The language we use to describe disability matters. Speaking in sweeping, negative terms doesn’t help anyone.

There are individuals with autism who experience tremendous hardship. Dehumanizing rhetoric doesn’t help them. There are also autistic individuals who enjoy their lives, sometimes in atypical ways.

Whatever the experience, autistic people are beloved, particular, limited, and gifted humans who deserve to be seen and heard as such.

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