People are people – despite their labels

I generally despise the “despite” in the following sentences

• Despite being black … they became a president
• Despite being a Dane … they described atomic theory
• Despite being a child carer .. they where astronomer
• Despite being asperger … they was a genius scientist
• Despite having ADHD … they became a an educational inspiration for kids (dk)
• Despite being autistic … they were an expert in finding patterns (dk)
• Despite being autistic … they can play together (dk)
• Despite being autistic … they had complex emotions (dk)

I’d rather we use a child with autism, a child with ADHD, a person with asperger… A mother, a woman, a Dane, a black person – a person. Children with a diagnosis is so much more than the diagnosis – they are children. People are so much more that their labels, they are people first – labels second.

See also:
https://jlottosen.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/they-are-just-people/
https://jlottosen.wordpress.com/2012/03/24/har-du-set-en-med/
https://jlottosen.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/the-geeks-and-nerds-syndrome/