Who are the handicapped?

Society’s myths tell us they are:

• people who suffer from the tragedy of birth defects...

• paraplegic heroes who struggle to become normal...

• victims of diseases fighting to regain their lives...

• categorically, the disabled, the retarded, the autistic, the blind, the deaf, the learning disabled and more.

Who are they, really?

• They are moms and dads and sons and daughters...

• employees and employers...

• scientists (Stephen Hawking)...

• friends and neighbors...

• movie stars (Marlee Matlin)...

• leaders and followers...

• students and teachers...

• they are ...people.

• They are people.

• They are people, first.

Are you myopic or do you wear glasses?

Are you cancerous or do you have cancer?

Are you freckled or do you have freckles?

Are you handicapped/disabled or do you have a disability?

People First Language describes what a person HAS, not what a person IS!

People First Language puts the person before the disability.

Disability has been defined as a body function that operates differently. Contrast that meaning with: A published origin of handicap refers to hand in cap, a game where the losing player was considered to be at a disadvantage. A legendary origin of the word refers to a person with a disability having to beg on the street with cap in hand.

"Handicapped," "Disabled," or People with Disabilities: which description is most accurate? Using the handicapped, and even the disabled, usually evokes negative feelings (sadness, pity, fear, and more) and creates a stereotypical perception that people with disabilities are all alike. All people who have brown hair are not alike. All people who have disabilities are not alike. Many people who have disabilities would never think of themselves as handicapped.

The disability community is the largest minority group in our country. It includes people of both genders and from all religions, ethnic backgrounds, and socioeconomic levels. About the only things people with disabilities have in common with one another are 1) having a body function that operates differently and 2) facing prejudice and discrimination. Unique to the disability community is that it’s the only minority group that any American can join in the split second of an accident.

If and when it happens to you, will you have more in common with others with disabilities or with your family, friends, and coworkers?

The Disability Rights Movement is following in the footsteps of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and the Women’s Movement of the 1970s. While people with disabilities and advocates work to end discrimination and segregation in education, employment, and our communities at large, we must also work to end the prejudicial language that creates an invisible barrier to inclusion in the mainstream of life.

"Disability is a natural part of the human experience..."
The U.S. Developmental Disabilities Act and The Bill of Rights Act, 1993

Disability is not the "problem." We need to rid our vocabulary of the word "problem" when talking about people’s needs! A person with glasses doesn’t walk around saying, "I have a problem seeing." She says, "I wear (need) glasses." Recognize that a "problem" is really a need.

The real problem is attitudinal barriers. There have always been people with disabilities in our world and there always will be.

• If educators and our society at large perceived children with disabilities as individuals who have the potential to learn, who have the need for the same education as their brothers and sisters, and who have a future in the adult world of work, we wouldn’t have to fight for inclusive education.

• If employers and our society at large believed adults with disabilities have valuable job skills (because they received a quality education), we wouldn’t have to fight for real jobs for real pay in the real community.

• If business owners and our society at large viewed people with disabilities as consumers with money to spend (because they’re wage earners), we wouldn’t have to fight for accessible entrances and other accommodations.

Many people who do not now have a disability will have one in the future.

Others will have a family member or friend who acquires a disability. If you acquire a disability in your lifetime, how will you want to be described? How will you want to be treated? Disability issues are issues that affect all Americans!

Using People First Language is a crucial issue. If people with disabilities are to be included in all aspects of our communities in the very ordinary, very wonderful, very typical activities most people take for granted they must talk about themselves in the very ordinary, very wonderful, very typical language other people use about themselves.

Children with disabilities are children, first. The only labels they need are their names! Parents must not talk about their children in the clinical terms used by medical practitioners. A parent of a child who wears glasses (medical diagnosis: myopia) doesn’t say, "My daughter is myopic," so why does the parent of a child who has a medical diagnosis of autism say, "My daughter is autistic."?

Adults with disabilities are adults, first. The only labels they need are their names! They must not talk about themselves the way service providers talk about them. An adult with a medical diagnosis of cancer doesn’t say, "I’m cancerous," so why does an adult with a diagnosis of cerebral palsy say, "I’m disabled."? continue...