Why do persons with long-term mental illnesses prefer "person first" language in describing the illness, and also subscribe to terms such as "consumer," "service user," or "survivors" to describe their status as service recipients?

They prefer terms that do not arouse pity, fear, or rejection, as in the case of traditional terms like "schizophrenic" or "chronic". Further, they think that terms such as "patient" and "client" connote a "one-down" relationship and imply a dependency and inability to participate in treatment planning, as opposed to the implication of customer relationship suggested by the terms "consumer" and "service user.".