People First Language

By: Kathie Snow
For more information on People First Language and Kathie, please visit her website.

A handicap has been defined as an obstacle which society imposes on a person with a disability; i.e. inaccessible transportation or buildings, no signage, etc… Handicapped is not a term that should be used to describe human beings. A disability has been defined as a body function that operates differently. It’s that simple! It’s just a body function that works differently. People First Language seeks to put the person first and the disability second! People with disabilities are people, first and foremost!

The disability rights movement started in the 1970s. In 1976, PL 94-142 was enacted to include children with disabilities in the public education system for the first time. People First Language began to evolve…

• In 1990, the Senate Subcommittee on the Handicapped became the Senate Subcommittee on Disability Policy.

• On July 26, 1990, The Americans with Disabilities Act, PL 103-336, was enacted, prohibiting discrimination based on disability in employment, public service, public accommodations and telecommunications for the more than 43 million adults and children with disabilities in the U.S. (Notice it was not called the Handicapped Americans Act!)

• In late 1990, PL 94-142, The Education of All Handicapped Children Act, was reauthorized and renamed by Congress to become PL 103-476, The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

 

Isn’t it all great!

 

But we still have a long way to go! Government cannot legislate morality, values, or feelings. Persons with disabilities must be perceived as valuable, participating members of our society because they are! Since our language reflects our values, our language must change. Remember the Civil Rights Movement? The Civil Rights Act was passed long ago, in 1964. But it took years before the law really seemed to have an effect. During that time, a long used and degrading term finally became Negro, then Black and now African American. Ditto the Women’s Movement…”honey” and “girl” gave way to “Ms.” No legislation was ever passed for this movement, but our society has, nevertheless, changed a great deal in this area.

 

Now it’s our turn...time to change the language used to describe children and adults with disabilities.

NO MORE LABELS! Labels degrade.  Labels evoke negative pictures in our heads. Labels don’t address individuality – they lump people together and focus on the disability, not the person and his/her abilities. Society will not change unless we insist on the change. We have the right to do so.

No more “H Word!”

Have you ever wondered where the word “handicap” came from?

The dictionary has one definition from an old Gaelic term which referred to a person with a disability as one who had to stand on the street corner begging with his “cap in hand.” (Get it? Cap in hand...handicap???) Is this a term that should be applied to anyone with a disability?

Certainly Not!!!!!!

Persons with disabilities want the same things all of us want. We all want: dignity, respect and the opportunity to participate fully in what life has to offer. Those achievements are hard to attain when one’s whole being is defined by a label: handicapped, disabled, mentally retarded, crippled, autistic, blind, deaf, etc… Traditionally, our society has not expected much from a person with a label. This is changing now, for people with disabilities are more like people without disabilities than they are different! A disability is only one unique aspect of the sum total of a unique individual!

THE TIME IS NOW! JUST DO IT!

No more labels! Instead, People First Language! What is it? It focuses on the person first, the disability last. How do you know what it is? It describes what the person HAS, not WHAT he/she IS. It’s easy...just use your imagination.

No one “suffers from,” or “is afflicted with” or is a “victim of” anything! Nor is anyone “wheelchair-bound.” There are people who USE wheelchairs...nothing else! People are not “bound” by their wheelchairs. Their wheelchairs allow them the freedom to go where they want to go!

As society’s language changes, as we talk about PEOPLE FIRST:

• Perceptions will change,

• Attitudes will change

• Society’s acceptance and respect for people with disabilities will increase, and

• An inclusive society will become a reality.

History tells us it takes at least one generation between the time an idea is born and the time it is actually incorporated into our society. Perhaps we’ll change that truism. We have no time to waste. Wouldn’t it be great if when children who are 8-years-old today become adults, labels will be as extinct as dinosaurs!

People First Language is right, and the time for it is now.

Just do it!

People First Language to use…

• People with disabilities
• People with mental retardation or he has a cognitive disability
• My son has autism
• She has Down Syndrome
• She has a Congenital disability
• He is a person with a seizure disorder
• He uses a wheelchair
• She has a developmental disability
• He has an orthopedic disability
• She has short stature
• He has no speech
• She has a learning disability
• He is a person who has….
• She has an emotional disturbance
• Typical instead of “normal”
• He has quadriplegia, paraplegia, etc….
• She receives Special Ed Services
• Accessible parking