''Offended'' by the word 'autist'

I'm in a special class at my college only for autistics and ones with other diagnosis' (ADHD, OCD, angst, etc). We have a mentor we can talk to and will speak up for us to the teachers, the teachers are also speacialized in teaching us.

I had a discussion with my mentor some weeks ago and she said that another autistic 'student' of hers was offended by the word ''autist'' to the point where they all stopped saying that, and I cant stop thinking how absurd that is in my mind.

I mean I get it with aspergers, I myself do not care, but I understand why others dont like it and I can respect it. But autist? Honestly imo it just gives off a bad aftertaste, getting offended by a word with no bad history. Everybody with autism is different, but why would exactly that word be ''offensive''?

PS: I might seem a little annoyed, and I kind of am. I just cannot understand the villianization of normal words to describe us, in the end it just what we are, autists, and that is nothing we should be ashamed of