Our Language
The National Assistance Card Program uses language that respects people’s identity, experiences and choices.
We use Autistic with a capital A when referring toAutistic people and the Autistic community. This is to acknowledge and show respect to Autistic identity and community. Our use of a capital A follows Amaze’s language guidance.
We use autism with a lowercase a when referring to autism itself.
For example:
In our communication and marketing materials we generally use ‘identity-first’ first language (i.e. ‘Autistic person’) instead of person first terminology (i.e. ‘person with autism’).
However, we acknowledge that some people prefer ‘person with autism’ or other language. We respect each person’s right to choose how they describe themselves.
When referring to an individual, we will follow their language preference. Personal stories and quotes may therefore use different wording.
We generally use lowercase letters for health conditions and disabilities. When a condition includes a person’s name, we capitalise that name. For example, Huntington’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and Down syndrome. We use capital letters for acronyms and initialisms, as in acquired brain injury (ABI) and multiple sclerosis (MS).
Examples of the wording we use include:
These capitalisation choices follow the Australian Government Style Manual’s guidance on medical terms.
We recognise that language and preferences can change overtime. We will continue to listen to the communities we work with and welcome feedback on the language we use.