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Subject:Re: Political Correctness and the Writer From:Carl Stieren <STIEREN -at- SIMWARE -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 29 Sep 1997 13:39:00 EDT
When I worked for the Ontario March of Dimes (a charitable organization
which provides service to disabled adults) in the late 80s, we worked hard
to get public recognition of both the needs and the abilities of adults with
physical disabilities.
At that time, the term used by people with physical disabilities was
"disabled". We worked to get away from terms such as handicapped, or worse
yet, crippled. Since then, different terms have come into vogue, and
"differently abled" is used by many people now. It is always correct to
refer to the condition or diagnosis that people have (multiple sclerosis,
polio myelitis, cystic fibrosis).
However, being so obscure in your terminology that you are not understood is
the worst thing you could do when you need to refer in print to a person
with a physical disability.
Three terms which will never go out of vogue are the following:
accessible
wheelchair accessible
wheelchair user
These terms are not pejorative and do not stigmatize people with physical
disabilities.
I remember one spokesperson with a physical disability saying that buildings
would never be built that people with physical disabilities could enter
until there were more architects who were wheelchair users.
- Carl Stieren
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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