Why is it never OK to call an autistic person retarded?

Answer 1

It is never a good thing to judge an autistic individual as retarded and can be pretty hurtful-even for me. Mental retardation was used in the late 18th and early 19th century in Europe before they knew what the word was. Many experts who know about autism would say autistic people are not compared to mentally ill people or intellectuals. That is true. No one should compare us with intellectuals (even though we might have repetetive behaviors). Some peope (mostly young people) would call an autistic person that because they don't know what it is. Autistic people should never be treated like they belong in a mental hospital or group home or like they have alzheimers or down-syndrome. Autistic people have an high IQ more than people who are intellectual and an average person.