[nabs-l] Disability Language

[Karl Martin Adam]

Justin, the idea that you know better what someone should be 
called than they do themselves seems awfully patronizing.  Isn't 
that sort of idea that others know how we should live our lives 
better than we do a large part of what we in the NFB and other 
disability rights organizations spend our time fighting.  Also I 
happen to know that there are a lot of deaf people who consider 
themselves Deaf with a capital d and are very proud of their 
culture.  Calling them "persons with hearing impairments" or 
something similar is extremely disrespectful.

 ----- Original Message -----
From: justin williams via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
To: "'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Sat, 25 Jul 2015 13:04:08 -0400
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Disability Language

While operating in the field, I am careful to set the best 
example for my
consumer. Often times, consumers use names such as physically 
disabled, or
deaf, or something such as that.  They use the terminology given 
to them by
those who while well meaning, are not in touch with the day to 
day maneusha
which goes along with having a disability.  I am careful to 
usualy stay in
the professional guidelines unless doing so will cause undo 
stress.  I've
noticed that when I use person first language, the consumer 
becomes more
empowered and is more inclined to take control of their life.

-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of 
Arielle
Silverman via nabs-l
Sent: Saturday, July 25, 2015 12:57 AM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Cc: Arielle Silverman <arielle71 at gmail.com
Subject: [nabs-l] Disability Language

Hi Kaiti and all. I read an article recently about disability 
language which
was published in the journal American Psychologist and authored 
by Dana
Dunn, a prominent disability psychologist. Basically, the article 
described
how language preferences are changing. As others have pointed 
out, there is
a lot of debate about whether to use person-first ("person who is 
blind") or
identity-first ("blind person"). What Dr. Dunn recommends is that 
clinicians
should simply ask clients what term they prefer and use those 
terms
(honoring different clients with different terms, if necessary). 
So you
would not automatically need to call your client a person with a 
disability
unless he/she explicitly prefers that language. I have noticed 
that the vast
majority of people I meet/exchange emails with who have autism 
want to be
called "autistic people" and the only people I know who use the 
term "people
with autism" are non-autistic people. So, I regularly use the 
term "autistic
person" because that seems to be the majority preference for 
those who are
actually part of that group. If a particular autistic person or 
family
objects, then I will switch to their term of choice. I also use 
the term
"blind person" to describe myself and others in the blindness 
community.
When I talk to parents of blind children, I try to listen to 
their terms and
follow their language (even if it's "visually impaired"). I think 
honoring
language and building common language is a part of building 
rapport and
trust with others.
Arielle

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