What do I say?
Jesus said that the words we speak come out of the overflow of our hearts. This is why language matters.
The way we speak about people betrays the attitudes that are in our hearts towards them. When a disabled student turns up at your CU some people might be worried about saying the wrong thing for fear of giving offence. So here are some pointers.
Don't say cripple Say instead disabled person
Don't say handicapped Say instead disabled person
Don't say mentally retarded Say instead person with learning disabilities
Don't say mentally handicapped Say instead person with learning disabilities
Don't say deaf aid Say instead hearing aid
Don't say the disabled Say instead disabled people
Don't say suffering from.... Say instead person with ....
Don't say a victim of.... Say instead person with ....
Don't say confined to a wheelchair Say instead wheelchair-user
Don't say wheelchair-bound Say instead wheelchair-user
'Handicapped' smacks of a time when disabled people could only sit begging for a living, in hopes that you would put your hand in their cap with some money for them. And we wouldn’t lump 'the blue-eyed' or 'the left handed' all together as one group, so neither should we with 'the disabled'. 'Crippled' and 'retarded' are outdated terms from a time when non-disabled people assumed superiority, 'victim' implies a passivity that certainly would not have enabled someone to overcome their impairment and get to university. And just because someone has a disability, that doesn’t mean they’re 'suffering' from it – they might be happier than you are! A wheelchair liberates someone and enables them to get out and about, it doesn’t bind or confine.
Read our resources for supporting and including students with specific disabilities.
To read this article in full, and other articles on including disabled students, download the student version of Through the Roof's publication Be a Roofbreaker for just £3.