@tindall So let's try that experiment and consider the counterpoint: "Do you identify with" explicitly grants the subject agency.
"What X are you" may be interpreted as "how are you classified by some external agency?"
E.g. in the cases of both veteran status and disability, these are classifications determined by some other authority --- a military establishment or medical practitioner.
Note that in both those cases, the authority itself is also conveyed rather then self-asserted.
Regardless of whether or not I self-identify as a General in the Australian Army or a medical doctor, unless I've been recognised as such by the corresponding authorities themselves, what I assert or believe has no relevance in the matter.
#identity #relations #assertion #bestowal
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