[nabs-l] Disability Language

Sat Jul 25 21:54:34 UTC 2015

Personally, what Caitlin just said extends to me even as a student in
a clinical field.  I may be corrected in the future, but if I don't
see how a supervisor will have reason to correct me for identifying
myself as long as I am professional and politically correct when
referring to clients.  They can correct me all they want if I call a
child I'm working with, "One of my blind kiddos," but if I'm saying,
"As a blind person I..." and they call me out on it, I'm likely to
explain why I prefer identity first language and liken it to Deaf with
a capital D instead of hearing impaired, and other such examples.

I accept it is the right thing to do in clinical work, and want to set
a good example for others I might meet as a professional, but that is
separate from my personal beliefs and how I want to be
treated/referred to.  You're right, you do have to separate personal
from professional and if people take issue with what I call myself and
not my clients, then that's them not separating the two, not I.

On 7/25/15, Caitlin Best via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> I work for the army and the equal opportunity office for roughly 5 years, so
> I had a great deal of death employees come into my office. Most deaf people
> are very proud of their culture and their community and you don't even
> consider themselves to have a disability. They do preferred to use a D – a D
> to describe themselves. Also, using hearing impairment is very
> disrespectful. Most preferred to use hard of hearing or simply death because
> that is how they see themselves.
>
> As for other disability language, I would just rolled with whatever the
> person or people are comfortable with.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Jul 25, 2015, at 13:50, Karl Martin Adam via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>> 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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-- 
Kaiti Shelton
University of Dayton-Music Therapy
President, Ohio Association of Blind Students 2013-Present
Secretary, The National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts
Division 2015-2016

"You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back!"