[nabs-l] Disability Language

Sun Jul 26 20:11:08 UTC 2015

Well, Car, I believe some of us do.  It's no different from the Deaf
community where people can choose to be a part of it or not; some
blind people feel this way and others don't.

Back on the topic at hand, though, blindness isn't what defines us, so
why would we hide from it?  If it defines us so that we need to hide
behind the agency-accepted labeling system and avoid using the term
first then I think that's a bigger issue, at least in my case, than
being forthright and open about it.  Of course everyone will and
should go with what feels most natural to them as we've been saying in
this thread, but that's how I personally feel about it.

We're all people, but think about it this way; everyone uses identity
language.  I've never heard, "A person who is black/African American"
before because even those in that category would find it odd and
silly.  On facebook and other social media I see people of different
races identifying themselves as a
black/Mexican/Hispanic/Latino/White/Asian person all the time.  If we
are just like them and our disabilities are as inconsequential as we
say they are, then why is it so taboo to identify ourselves by a
characteristic that binds us together with other people?

On 7/26/15, Carly Mihalakis via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Oh my God! a culture boasting values like
> cultural cohesion and  group feeling? From what
> I've heard, deaf people know about sustaining
> those cultural strands. Good on them! Could blind
> F.U.X., too,  imagine such a solidarity?
> Carlandsca aalso  11:18 AM 7/25/2015, Caitlin Best via nabs-l 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 heaaring 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!"