[Blindtlk] Use of the Term Visually Impaired

[justin williams]

I'm alright with the terms either way.  Visually impaired is a little less
abrasive and describes most of the Blind.   I have some functional vision,
but operate mostly like one who is totally blind.  I juse as many different
blindness skills as I can; Jaws, braille and a cane, so I operate as if I am
without any sight, but I still at times interchange the terms.  

-----Original Message-----
From: blindtlk [mailto:blindtlk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Kelby
Carlson
Sent: Friday, June 21, 2013 4:24 PM
To: blindtlk at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Blindtlk] Use of the Term Visually Impaired

Hi everybody!

So, since I'm not aware of any incendiary debates flaring up around here
recently, I thought I'd bring up something I read recently that I found
utterly baffling.  This was on a blog thread about proper etiquette around
people with disabilities.  
Towards the end, a discussion of language appropriateness came up, and
someone said that "visually impaired" was an unacceptable term that should
not be used.  Instead, one should say "with a visual impairment." I have
heard similar things regaring the phrasing of a "blind person" versus "a
person with blindness", but this was especially perplexing because I can't
recall ever meeting someone in my entire life who was opposed to the term
"visually impaired", at least when it was used to describe someone who had
some functional vision.  I don't have strong feelings either way, but I
would actually lean more to towards preferring visually impaired than
"partially sighted", though I think neither one is more linguistically
accurate than the other.

I have encountered the issue of language surrounding disability many times,
and it's always been a bit strange-don't we, as blind people (among other
people with various kinds of disabilities) have higher priorities on our
lists of "things to fix in the world"? These are just my thoughts on the
matter.

Kelby S.  Carlson

Vanderbilt University


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