Talking about disability

A Guide to Using Appropriate Language Times have changed for people with disabilities... but language lags behind. Life for most people with mental or physical disabilities is vastly improved over what it was twenty or thirty years ago. The Americans with Disabilities Act and other federal and state laws assure that people with disabilities have the same basic rights as people without disabilities. Some things have been slower to change; namely, attitudes and perceptions about people with disabilities. Ignorance and discrimination can be serious impediments to achieving integration, productivity, and independence for people with disabilities. The use of outdated language and words to describe people with disabilities contributes greatly to perpetuating old stereotypes. No longer should we view people with disabilities as helpless or tragic victims. Awareness is the first step toward correcting this injustice. If public opinion about people with disabilities is to be brought up to date, the public needs to hear and learn to use appropriate language. It is especially important for the media, elected officials, public speakers, and others in leadership positions to portray people with disabilities sensitively and realistically. This is a guide to using descriptive words and language when talking to or about people with disabilities. http://www.traponline.com/language.htm

The power of words - Quotation

No man has a prosperity so high or firm, but that two or three words can dishearten it; and there is no calamity which right words will not begin to redress. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882)

When language can hold the answer

When Language Can Hold the Answer Faced with pictures of odd clay creatures sporting prominent heads and pointy limbs, students at Carnegie Mellon were asked to identify which “aliens” were friendly and which were not. The students were not told that the aliens fell naturally into two groups, although the differences were subtle and not easy to describe. Some had somewhat lumpy, misshapen heads. Others had smoother domes. After students assigned each alien to a category, they were told whether they had guessed right or wrong, learning as they went that smooth heads were friendly and lumpy heads were not. The experimenter, Dr. Gary Lupyan, who is now doing postdoctoral research at Cornell, added a little item of information to one test group. He told the group that previous subjects had found it helpful to label the aliens, calling the friendly ones “leebish” and the unfriendly ones “grecious,” or vice versa. (more...)

The language of inflation

Watch Victor Borge as he creates a new language!

Language - a quote

Language exerts hidden power, like a moon on the tides.
Rita Mae Brown
More Quotes on communication