Disability Language

Language and Labels - Negative

retard, cripple, dumb, freaks

Language and Labels - Positive

person with a disability, disabled person

Language and Labels - Neutral

handicap, special needs

Historical Clinical Terms for Disability

retards, freaks, cripple. crazy, fools, mentally deranged, lame

Otherness

To be other means to be defined and perceived as fundamentally different, foreign or outside the perceived “normal” or dominant social group

Who Is Considered Othered

disabled people

Otherness is Perpetuated By

the medical and social models

Otherness Goal

be normal in order to survive (and thrive)

Person First Language

puts the individual before their condition, disability or dignosis

Example of Person First Language

say “a person with diabetes” instead of “a diabetic

Disability Results When

cultural context in which someone lives does not accommodate his or her difference from the norm

Goal of Society - Normalization

to make the “other” as “normal” as possible

Normalization Caused By

• Little knowledge and awareness of disability in society 

• Ignorance or negatively can have negative outcome (low self-esteem, reduced participation)

Examples of Normalization

• Children bullying other children with disabilities in schools 

• Employers discriminating against people with disabilities 

• Strangers mocking people with disabilities

• Bus drivers failing to support access needs of disabled passengers