What's with this "People First" language?

Seriously - why.

Are we disabled people really so inept and weak that we need stiff, pretentious language to protect our fragile egos and sensibilities?

Do we really need the patronizing and utterly inconvenient roundabout ways of describing our bodies because we can't handle the use of simple and nonjudgemental adjectives?

What is wrong with us that some among us feel the need to "correct" people when they describe us as we are?

Related: Where do certain people get off telling, for example, my friends and members of my family how to call me? I much prefer older, harsher terms to describe myself because they do not sound, to my ear, patronizing, or seem to treat me as someone who needs protecting. Yet others that I do not know take it upon themselves to correct my friends and family and insist that they use these awful phrases to describe me. I can speak for myself!

Here's the kind of thing I'm talking about; I ran out of space before I could give my example.

I was with my mother at the Grand Canyon, and I was in my wheelchair and my mother was giving me a hard time and said "Come on, Cripple" (note: That's how my family and close friends call me because that's how I tell them to call me) and some random lady I'd never seen in my life walks up to my mother and says "You call them handicapable!"

Are we not expected to be able to think or speak for ourselves? Is it that strange of an idea to think that I might not prefer the euphamistic terms?

I've also been corrected more times than I can count on my own usage of saying "I'm disabled" ("You're a person with a disability, not a disabled person!") or referring to my friends and family how they prefer to be called when necessary ("You don't say she's retarded, you say she's a person with a mental disability").

That's the kind of thing I"m talking about - not how others call themselves.

I don't mind most things. I try to be politically correct but some times it gives me a headache.

I don't like being called handicapped because it just doesn't sound nice. I don't like being called crippled because by definition I'm not.

If someone wants to say I'm disabled or an amputee that's fine because that's what I am.

To each their own. Our experiences shape our perceptions and preferences. I grew up in an institution where kids were referred to by diagnosis or label as often as name. I dislike all labels, but when they must be used, I prefer those which emphasize me. Person with a disability or wheelchair user might sound pretentious to you, but they accurately describe me.

You can call yourself whatever you want. Make sure you tell people what that is.

But, other people have the same right to decide how they prefer to be addressed. You might find it patronizing but, it's not all about you.

I thought that People First was to see all people as people, not to think of them in terms of their disability. So, for example, instead of calling you crippled or handicapped, they would just call you by your name.