[Blindtlk] Use of the Term Visually Impaired

[Carly Mihalakis]

Good afternoon, kelby,

         How eloquent. Couldn't have said it better myself. To add to 
what you said, I don't feel comfortable separating myself from such 
an identity-forming layer of my identity an more than I am 
comfortable not speaking (in plain English) of a fact of my happening 
to be of the female genus of humans. The concept is Isolated!
for today, Car /2013, kelby carlson wrote:
>I actually want to push back against the idea of "person-first"
>language. Two reasons come immediately to mind: it can often be
>linguistically clunky, particularly if you are simply trying (for
>whatever reason) to insert an adjective into a sentence. "Kelby is
>blind" and "Kelby is a person with blindness" are functionally
>identical statements that communicate the exact same reality. But
>let's assume that language is more political than I think it is. I
>think there's still a problem with "person-first" language, as it
>actually restricts the disabled from incorporating their disability
>into a larger framework of identity. If I were to describe myself as
>"tall", "green-eyed", "talkative", and "bookish", all of these are
>parts or aspects of my identity that carry different degrees of weight
>and importance. Adding "blind" to that list incorporates my disability
>as something that partially shapes and governs my identity, without
>giving it primarily place. By contrast, "person with blindness"
>implies that "blindness" as an abstract quality can be detached from
>the person to whom it is being ascribed; moreso, it implies that such
>a depersonalization is actually a moral necessity. It seems to me that
>to separate a person from their disability in this way is the
>philosophical equivalent of partial dehumanization, because it denies
>the possibility and benefit of incorporation of disability into one's
>human identity.
>
>Now I don't think this is an ironclad case, but it does suggest that
>the self-evident morality of "person-first" language is actually
>nothing of the kind when it is investigated.
>
>
>
>On 6/21/13, Michael Capelle <michael.capelle at charter.net> wrote:
> > Definitely, I have always agreed with the statement, "people first."
> >
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