Dear Accessibility Advocates:
Bravo, Harold.
As I have been advocating for a long time now, and I know the transition will
take time, my suggestion is to "ditch" the negative "dis" terminology
altogether and go positive with our descriptors. Let us stop "dissing"
ourselves and other people.
* "Disabled" literally by dictionary definition means "can't do, incapable,
inoperable, incapacitated, non-functioning" - and is commonly used to describe
inanimate objects that don't work, objects that we relegate to the trash heap
(i.e. disabled smoke detectors, disabled vehicles). Is it any wonder that
people are so reluctant to self-identify with such negative labels? Raise your
hand if YOU would WANT to be labeled/described/considered so negatively?
So we do things differently. So we have learning differences, mobility
differences, hearing differences, vision differences, speech differences ....
So does everyone else on this planet. Everyone does things differently and has
to cope with change, accidents, illnesses, lifestyle choices, natural
disasters, as we here in the U.S. witnessed on 9/11: war/terrorism, and yes, by
the way, aging. Is there any human being who is perfect? Accessibility is
about everyone.
Change the language. Change the perception.
A for Accessibility: Positive Wins. Every Time.
P.S. Federally in the U.S., The A.D.A. is not the only accessibility-related
piece of legislation. There's much more on the books. See, for instance:
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/cguide.htm and http://www.access-board.gov/
Ellen Perlow
Chair, ALA ASCLA Century Scholarship Committee
The ALA ASCLA Century Scholarship Diversity Initiative
"Celebrating a New Century that Celebrates Diversity"
http://www.ala.org/ascla/centuryscholarship.html
Annual Submission Deadline: March 1st. Now recruiting for 2003.
See Also: ALA HRDR Page: http://www.ala.org/hrdr/scholarship.html
Texas Century Scholarship: http://www.txla.org/html/awards/scholar/century.html
Have YOU recruited/applied to be a Century Scholarship applicant today?
----------------------------------------------------
Manager of Information Services
School of Library and Information Studies
Texas Woman's University
P.O. Box 425438
Denton, TX 76204-5438
Tel.: 940-898-2622 Fax: 940-898-2611
Web: http://twu.edu/~s_perlow/
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
> In a message dated 7/11/2002 2:38:05 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
> [log in to unmask] writes:
> > Students are reluctant to identify themselves
> > as learning disabled...
> >
> > My first job would be to discover who introduced that word! And what its
> > effect on people seeking help is.
> > have known many people in my teaching days who had learning dis-abilities,
> > but not one who was disabled by them. People are reluctant to apply labels
> > to ourselves, and hopefully people in education would know that.
> > Unfortuntely, too many do not.
> >
> > When someone declines to seek help, perhaps someone needs to advise the
> > helper on better ways of communicating.
> >
> > Harold A. Maio
Content-type: text/html
<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=2>In a message dated 7/11/2002 2:38:05 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes:
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<BR><BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Students are reluctant to identify themselves
<BR>as learning </FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=4 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"><B><U>disabled</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"></B></U>...
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<BR>My first job would be to discover who introduced that word! And what its effect on people seeking help is.</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"></BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BR></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0">
<BR>I<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px"> have known many people in my teaching days who had learning dis-abilities, but not one who was <B><U>disabled</B></U> by them. People are reluctant to apply labels to ourselves, and hopefully people in education would know that. Unfortuntely, too many do not.
<BR>
<BR>When someone declines to seek help, perhaps someone needs to advise the helper on better ways of communicating.
<BR>
<BR>Harold A. Maio</FONT><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Arial" LANG="0"></BLOCKQUOTE>
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