Using Identity-First Language

We all have an identity, male or female, mother or father, brother or sister, non-binary, pet owner or animal despiser (I can’t imagine), aunt or uncle. We can identify as homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, gay, lesbian, or asexual. We all have an identity. I wouldn’t tell someone who doesn’t know me all about myself, but they can see that I am a female and that has certain expectations from that individual. If I don’t meet those expectations, then I am considered weird or abnormal. By having certain expectations when we meet new people, and they don’t meet those expectations then we are met with having something wrong with them and not our expectations. This is the problem with having a society having an identity-first language. When people don’t meet the expectations of what that person’s identity means for society they are considered weird or abnormal. By having a person-first language we have expectations diminished. Every person is different. We all identify differently. For myself, I have many facets to my identity. I may have a disability that is not seen by the public. Having these invisible disabilities may cause someone to think that I’m weird or abnormal. Having a person-first identity gives the person as a whole of being human first. We are all flesh and blood. I wouldn’t meet a new person in my life and expect them to be like me. We are all unique. Our differences are what make everyone not be a cookie-cutter society, but when we have an identity-first society and expect them to fit into our expectations of what that identity means we are not treating them like individuals. This is why we need to retrain society to treat individuals as individuals and not cookie-cutter expectations of what they feel is normal. Person-first identity will create a society that accepts everyone as they are not something that may be societal norms. Labeling someone as weird or abnormal gives that individual an identity crisis when they don’t fit into a societal norm.