The language of disability
People worry about what words they should and shouldn’t use around disability and get very caught up about this. It’s true there is distasteful language that can degrade and devalue people and ‘other’ them. But the starting point is about treating people with respect, not about ‘correct’ language. You can use the politically correct words – some of our politicians do - and still undermine people and make them feel uncomfortable.
The lists
I have always avoided lists of ‘acceptable’ language and ‘unacceptable’ language. Yes it’s good to know broadly what is acceptable. Sometimes when you think about it it’s not surprising that something is offensive. The Deaf community rejected the term ‘Deaf and Dumb’ as offensive along time ago, as ‘dumb’ now implies both stupidity and no language although I do still hear that phrase from time to time.
The graffiti wall
Historically in disability awareness training we had the graffiti wall activity. Where the group contribute all the positive and negative words and phrases they know about disability. This activity was meant to raise awareness and look at the stigmatising impact of language describing disability. These discussions could be useful. But an unfortunate side effect of the activity was teaching offensive terms. This could be upsetting for people who’d been on the receiving end of these slurs. The side effects of learning new offensive terms about disability and the potential to cause distress, means it is rarer to use this activity in training today.
Anything can be an insult
Thirty years ago, the then ‘Spastic Society’ changed their name to Scope. This was down to the society name being applied as a slur. You can understand this and the motivation of the name change. Some years ago when Mickey was training in the North West of England, he was told that little children now run about in the playground calling each other ‘Scopers’. The words change, the stigmatising intent is the same, surely what we need is not to focus so much on language but more on respect for each other?
Use the language of the person in front of you
When I was training researchers in inclusive research, I would always say use the language of the person in front of you. The person you are talking to hasn’t necessarily been on a disability awareness training course. They have ownership of the language they are using. Perhaps the language they use may be technically ‘out of date’ but if someone who is ‘sight impaired’ refers to themselves as ‘blind’ that’s their choice. We have seen with marginalised people and communities where they reclaim a word that was previously a slur. You need to be careful about using these words if you are not a member of that group.
Any broad guidelines?
- Most of the time you don’t need labels, if you are not working in a medical or service capacity, people are just people.
- If you think something sounds offensive, then it probably is.
- If you wouldn’t be comfortable having that word or term applied to you, avoid it.
- Avoid stereotypes of different groups. It’s an unfortunate behaviour of humans to make themselves feel better or more important by putting down or demonising other groups. Jonathan Swift demonstrated this in the Lilliputian war over whether an egg should be broken on the pointy or flat end. People are just different, there is no right, there is no wrong.
How do you show respect
- Don’t talk down to people or patronise them.
- Give d/Deaf and disabled people the same attention and consideration you’d give to anyone else.
- d/Deaf and disabled people are very used to being ignored or people talking to the person they are with. There is nearly always a way around communication if you are prepared to put the effort in.
Educate yourself
A good starting point is to understand The social model of disability[1]. If you are looking for more information about any specific disability or access need contact, ‘organisations of’ or Disabled people's organisations (DPO's), such as Disability Rights UK[2].
these organisations are the authentic voice of the movement and play a crucial role in advocating for the rights and needs of our disabled community[2]
If you really want to know what a person thinks or feels you need to ask them directly that’s why we recommend speaking to ‘Organisations of’ as oppose to ‘Organisations for'.
Despite my general dislike of lists I think this short guidance from the cabinet office on inclusive language[3] is good. As the article says not everyone will agree, and that’s okay, and some terms will change over time. During the last 20 years I’ve been working in this field, language around disability has changed and it will continue to do so.
And for more structured training here at Sunsurfer we offer a range of courses covering:
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References
- The social model of disability, Scope video
- Disability rights UK, 'Organisation of' disabled people
- Inclusive language: words to use and avoid when writing about disability, Cabinet Office guidance