[stylist] People first rule

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

There have been a lot of comments about how to refer to blind people.
Most entities and institutions now use the People First rule, which is
to place the person before the "adjective" such as blindness. The intent
is to take a focus off of a specific label and focus on the person
instead. Most government agencies and groups and organizations working
with minorities follow this rule.

My husband works for a non-profit serving people with disabilities in
the greater Omaha area. He administrates a program that makes
modifications and accommodations to homes for qualifying people along
with providing information, independent living skills and mediator
services. His employer has a strict code about using the People First
rule. Being blind himself, he, like me, is not so caught up on the use
of People First rule, but obviously he has to follow this guideline for
work.

As a disabled person, whoops, a person with a disability, grin, I don't
really care much. It all depends on the situation and person I'm
speaking with. When I write personal essays or memoir pieces, I tend to
just say blind people and the such; but when I write more informational
pieces, for instance, my blog, I tend to follow the People First rule.
And during speaking engagements, I always use the People First. In
casual convo, however, I don't care.

I completely agree with the sentiment behind People First, but as any PC
thing can go, it can get out of hand as well. The argument is that to
say you are, or I am, a blind person, implies blindness is "who" you
are; whereas saying you are, or I am, a person who is blind, it places a
bit more focus on the individual and not one contributing factor to who
they "are."

Sincerely,
Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
Read my blog at:
http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/
 
"History is not what happened; history is what was written down."
The Expected One- Kathleen McGowan