[nabs-l] Disability Language

Ashley Bramlett bookwormahb at earthlink.net
Mon Jul 27 02:14:53 UTC 2015


Hi,
I prefer indentity first language.
We never say person who is black or person  who is grey haired.
We do not say person with curly hair.
Yet with disabilities we say people with disabilities or people with autism, 
CP, or whatever the disability is.
Its strange to me this person first language.
We do not do that with other races, ages or ethnicities but yet it’s the 
politically correct thing to do with
disabilities.
Personally with usable vision, I like visually impaired, low vision, or 
legally blind.
But I'm not offended by people saying blind person to me.
I do understand why they say the person first but its annoying.

Ashley

-----Original Message----- 
From: justin williams via nabs-l
Sent: Saturday, July 25, 2015 1:04 PM
To: 'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'
Cc: justin williams
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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