I've found it interesting to read everyone's answers, so thanks for the thread.

Personally, I think that the wording does matter, and not just from a grammatical POV.

Very few people know about my diagnosis. I'm fortunate in a lot of ways to have passing privilege. For those that I have told, I said that I'd "just been diagnosed with schizophrenia", or "they've now decided that I have schizophrenia"; something along those lines. I don't say "I have sz" because I don't agree that I do have sz, but I wouldn't be offended by somebody else saying that about me. I also use first-person language to describe other people, whether about a physical or mental health problem.

However, woe betide you if you even try to call me, or anybody else, 'schizophrenic'!!! Not only do I not relate to that diagnosis but, even if I did, it is not the sum total of who I am as a person and so I don't appreciate being reduced to that one label.

But also, to me, and this really is JMO only, 'schizophrenic' is a pejorative word, not just defining somebody by a diagnosis. It reminds me of the stereotype of 'crazy person' in films about old asylums. That word makes me think of those poor people drugged out of their minds; seen as 'other' because of the side effects of their obscene medication dosages; drooling, and too doped up to think or speak or do anything. So I have met plenty of people who have a diagnosis of schizophrenia, but very few, even those who are floridly psychotic and in hospital, I would consider to be 'schizophrenic'. To me, that's a really offensive word that says more about the person's prescriber than it does about them.

Anyway, that's just my opinion.

*Willow*