Emphasize person rather than developmental disability

The headline, "Autistic teen dies after being shot by Cal City police" could be taken offensively by those with a developmental disability or those who love someone with a developmental disability.

The standard today is to use people-first language. People- first language is a form of linguistic prescriptivism in English, which helps to avoid dehumanization when discussing people with disabilities.

The basic idea is to impose a sentence structure that names the person first and the condition second. For example:

"Teen with autism" instead of "Autistic teen." The use of this process recognizes the idea of a disability as a secondary attribute, not a characteristic of a person's identity.

- Kelly Bridgmon, Crown Point