Audre and others,
  Thank you so much for your ideas, opinions and information.

-Karen McCandlish

-----Original Message-----
From: Audrey Gorman [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, March 05, 2001 2:49 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: preferencial terms


Karen,

This is a topic of great interest among people with disabilities and people
who work with and for them.  It is also occasionally the focus of rather
heated discussions!  Your assessment that it is frequently a personal
preference is right on target!

The first thing to do is to "put people first."  It's not "the disabled."
It's "people with (or who have) disabilities (or mental retardation or
visual impairments or mental illness or whatever the specific condition is).
Along with this, some of us prefer "people with disabilities" to "persons
with disabilities."  "People" seems more human, more inclusive, more
personal and individual.  "Persons" sounds like dehumanizing, objectifying
legalese - and usually is being borrowed from legal excerpts.  Do real
people talk that way about each other?!

The second is that if you deal with an individual on a regular basis, find
out what terminology preference she or he has.  Most people with
disabilities will tolerate a lapse here and there if you come across as
sincere and willing to learn.  You will encounter people for whom use of
particular terminology (or not using other terminology) is a very deeply
felt personal conviction.  Such convictions should be honored, just like our
other differences.

The third thing to understand is that, in our society, the word "disability"
is the one most generally understood.  Even if we think there's a lot of
misunderstanding of the people about whom the word is used, using a common
term is frequently better than having to explain what you mean each time or
derailing action with a discussion of words.  A corollary is that a "person
with a disability" has certain explicit rights under federal and state law,
but a person who is described as "differently abled" doesn't.  While these
should be issues of moral right or wrong, we too frequently have to resort
to legal mandates to get htings done.

As a person with a disability, I don't mind the use of that word.  I