Call me "she", not "they"
by Helen Said, Autistic advocate, Melbourne Australia Non-binary people have a right to change their own pronouns, but not mine. I want to continue to be called by my gender specific pronouns, which are she/her. I have faced various struggles and inequities as a woman, and I want my life work and life history to be acknowledged in the way that people speak about me and address me. In particular, I have triumphed and fought back, to achieve greater equality and respect for myself as a woman, and for others. This life history is being minimised and erased when people refer to me by gender neutral pronouns - it's as if we have all lived on a level playing field and gender hasn't entered into our identities or life chances. This is far from the truth. I have struggled to bring up children alone for many years; custodial mothers are much more common than custodial fathers. I have taken time out of the workforce with young children, including taking a child to early intervention, w...