Disabilities and Political Correctness

[tgaiennie]

I have a lot to say about this topic but before I do I have one question; Who determines what is "poiltically correct" or not? Did somebody send a survey out to all of the cripples and ask them what they wanted to be called? Does this process renew itself as people either become crippled in one fashion or the other? If so...I sure didn't get the memo. Doesn't a "person with a disability" include everybody anyway in one way or another?

I use the word handicap and disabled only in reference. I've never considered my self handicapped or disabled but merely crippled from a motorcycle accident that was nobodys fault except my own. I created one of those posts to help distinguish my post from the others and to help others such as my self find it using conventional terms such as handicap and disabled. There is nothing wrong with those words in and of themselves.

Labels are bad I know but then why do we keep creating them? "Person with a disability" is nothing more than a new label for cripple/gimp/handicap/disabled. People only want to be labeled when it benefits them. How bout we all try this...the next time you see a "person with a disability"; instead of calling them a "person with a disability"...go introduce yourself and ask them their name. I bet they'd rather be called that than anything some "politically correct" group decides to call them. I was asked one time when I was a member of a Diversity council at my former job; "What do you like to be called? (in reference to my label)". She was a black lady who was very sincere when she asked and my response was "My name is Wayne, what is your name?" She replied "Cathy.". I said to her "Cathy, I liked to be called Wayne. I do not know what all of the other people who use wheelchairs liked to be called." We would subsequently meet in the halls and in the meetings and we would greet each other by name.

As for the signs in the gimp spots; let's not replace them. I'd rather not see my tax dollar go to something so foolish as replacing a perfectly good sign. I would much rather see that money go to some sort of research or charity or be given back to the people who paid the taxes to put it up in the first place.

Bravo Wayne,

Well Said

 

[outlawaggie]

Well said Wayne. Political Correctness has done more to tear Americans apart than it EVER did to help anyone. I'll leave it at that.

 

[cowprintrabbit]

Think this country in general is far too sensitive. I have scoliosis with kyphosis (hunchback).

I could not believe how many horrified looks I got this year at Halloween - I didn't wear a costume to work this year and got tired of people asking me why. I finally started saying I was dressed as Quasimodo, and you would have thought I was swearing in church!

But I do agree that however one is qualifying an individual, it should be with adjectives, not nouns.

 

[Keysdrifter454]

Ok, it’s a new forum and already two posts have the word in the subject line. The word “handicapped” is becoming less and less of an acceptable word. In fact there are some people with disabilities that get downright offended when this word is used around them and view it as derogatory. The most politically correct phrasing is “person with a disability.” I know it’s confusing for some… after all there are still (too) many parking signs that say “handicapped parking” (despite our best efforts to get them all changed to “accessible parking”). Also, many people with disabilities themselves still use the term because the terminology “person with a disability” is fairly new. Certainly I am not going to tell anyone with a disability what to refer to yourself as… no more than I would tell an African-American person that he/she can only use that term (although I’m sure that this person would rather be identified by the person that he/she is than first and foremost the color of his/her skin). As for everyone else, I would be a happy person if we could all try to use more sensitive words.

Also, now that I look back in the forum, lets try to avoid “victim” and “suffers from.”

Thank you all.

If I don't say something to be intentionally offensive(which, frankly, I do quite often), somebody finding it offensive is not necessarilly on my plate.

 

[pipedope]

Good luck getting people to change what they say.
Hearing "wheelchair bound" on national or local TV news is a weekly if not daily happening. This has been taught as a major no-no in journalism schools for at least 20 years.

There is no easy answer. My SO who uses a wheelchair, prefers the word gimp.

Besides, I think more ramps and fewer stairs would help more than changing the wording on some signs.

 

[wldake]

It’s what other people call people in specific groups that bother me.

Isn't this what the "Politically Correct" police are doing when they call me a "person with a disability"? The phrase; "person with a disability" ranks up there with "physically challenged". I am not fond of either one so that should make it wrong and offend me but it doesn't because I am a stronger person than that and I realize that it is not who I am. It does not describe me so it does not offend me.

I really don't understand the total aversion to this word... it is just crazy!

I agree so much with this statement. What is more crazy is that the words we are referring to have been around for years and years. If we are not going to use these words shouldn't we just take them out of the english language and replace them with softer, less harsh words? Maybe we are going all wrong about this. Maybe the words should be harsh to describe something devastating. They seem to be appropriate when describing war. Gets the point across and creates outrage when an American is killed in action. Wouldn't it be more "politically correct" to say "his life force was terminated" (cheap line taken from the movie Demolition Man). That movie seems to be becoming a reality where one can go to a terminal and get nothing but happy, happy thoughts wished upon them.

Political Correctness has done more to tear Americans apart than it EVER did to help anyone.

As has many other things that politicians have deemed "right" for us.

The bottom line is this Keith...I think you have a good heart and want to make sure everybody is happy with what is being said on this board. I just don't know if it is anybody's place to tell me; a paraplegic of 20 years, what is correct for me or not. If I see something that offends me on a public forum I either ignore it or have a discussion about it. That is one of the great things about being an American. We have a right to be free thinking and judge for ourselves what is right and wrong.

 

[cdiver2]

Good luck getting people to change what they say.
Hearing "wheelchair bound" on national or local TV news is a weekly if not daily happening. This has been taught as a major no-no in journalism schools for at least 20 years.

There is no easy answer. My SO who uses a wheelchair, prefers the word gimp.

Besides, I think more ramps and fewer stairs would help more than changing the wording on some signs.

with you on this one. I look after my 89 year old mother in law that uses a four leg walker and has Alzheimer's now thats a handicap for her and myself when we are out in public. What I would give for more coed bathrooms so I don't have to attempt to clear a public bathroom when we are out. Other problems, the last time we flew with her we had the first seats in coach so she did not have to walk so far, bathroom time and first class was the nearest one and the steward told us to use it talk about dirty looks from the first class passengers. As you said less talk and more action

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Professionally speaking there is a difference in the meaning of various terms.

A "disability" or "disabling condition" refers to the medical diaonosis.

"Impairments" refer to the limitations that stem from the "disability"

The term "handicap" is the result of the effect of the environment on the individual with a disability and impairment's ability to perform a certain activity.

For example, A person may have paraplegia (disability) and the inability to walk (impairment). This may or may not be a handicap based on the environment. For example if the person is an accountant who works in an accessible office building, has accessible transportation, etc, they will have a disability and an impairment, but they won't really have a handicapping condition with regard to work.

It gets confusing though as older language or more general wording or meanings still get used, often due to legislation origionally written with the older terminology or meaning in mind.

Where it gets PC is the fairly recent trend toward separating the person from the disability. For example the wording "a deaf person" is out and the preferred terminology is "a person who is deaf". The idea is to identify the person as a person first and to put less emphasis on the disability as it is only one facet of the individual and not their whole identity.

The other recent PC aspect is the move toward removing the "victim" references. A person with paraplegia for example should not be considered to be "confined" to a wheel chair, or as someone who "suffered" a spinal cord injury but rather as a person who uses a wheelchair and a person with a spinal cord injury.

It sounds like a semantic argument but in some cases it is important as language is culture and the languge used will often form and maintain certain attitudes. If you use the terms "confined", "suffered", etc, many people will unconciously tend to associate the meanings of those words with the person and their attitude toward the person is affected.

 

[fishnchips]

Well said Wayne. Very good point also on not wasting tax $$ on way off line sensitivity issues.

 

[Gary D.]

Will I ever be forgiven for buying some gear and other stuff I called "Used" instead of "Pre-owned"?

I got corrected on that last night.

Flippin idiot has way to much time on his hands!

Then there is the new HIPA BS.

Gary D.