I am leery of labels. Not that I reject them completely - they can be useful. But labels can become boxes. And boxes are for groceries.
Below the fold, I'll talk about three types of labels - work-related, politically-related and disability-related, and how they each can be useful, but can become boxes. And I don't fit in a box. Neither do you.
If someone asks about my politics and wants a one-word answer I say I am a liberal.
If someone asks about my job and wants a one-word answer I say I am a statistician.
If someone asks what the **** is wrong with me and wants a very short answer I say I have non-verbal learning disabilities.
Each of these is a label. They are labels that I choose, but the only real label that fits me is "Peter".
Let's start with politics. In general, I am quite happy with how my representative (Nadler, NY-08) votes on bills. I would very nearly always vote the same way he does. I am also quite pleased with my newer senator, Kirsten Gillibrand. Even Chuck Schumer and I agree on a lot. At least, we would vote the same way on a lot of bills. But there are bills that never come to the floor of the House or Senate. And on some of them, I think I would vote differently than Nadler or Gillibrand. I would vote to make all drugs legal (but taxed and regulated). I would vote to make ANY kind of marriage among consenting adults legal (not just same-sex couples, but polygamy, polyandry, group marriage, or whatever) as long as there is strong emphasis on both CONSENTING and ADULT. I would vote to make prostitution legal (but taxed and regulated). Do those views make me a libertarian? It's not a label I am comfortable with. I have no sympathy for Ayn Rand or Rand Paul or any of the politicians currently using "libertarian". Perhaps they have poisoned the word. But I do think the government has a big role to play in regulating society and protecting people. So, I would make it legal to sell cocaine, but illegal to lace the cocaine with other ingredients unless they were on the label. On economic issues, I am closer to the liberal end - I am not a socialist, I am all for strongly regulated capitalism. But I'd impose a very high marginal tax rate on very high incomes.
Still, if I call myself "liberal" people at least can guess that I voted for Obama.
Next work. I work as a statistician. I help people analyze data. But, first, the word "statistician" is also used for professors who prove theorems about statistics, or who develop new statistical methods. I don't do either of those things. Second, often, my clients need help conceptualizing the problem they are dealing with, well before we get into analyzing data. In many cases, I am more like a "quantitative research consultant" but that's not a job title I've ever heard.
Still, if I call myself a "statistician" people at least know that I am not, e.g., a lawyer, and that I am comfortable with math and numbers.
Finally, disability. I have some symptoms of Asperger's syndrome (but i am not bad at recognizing tone of voice, and I do not have monomanic interests. I have some symptoms of autism (but, e.g., I don't have the sort of stimming behaviors many people with autism have); I have some symptoms of nonverbal learning disability, but I have a good sense of humor and like math.
Still, if I call myself "nonverbal learning disabled" people who know that term at least get some idea of my problems.
So, I am leery of labels. But they can be useful. Just don't let them become boxes