Cut the "differently-abled" s**t.

[M is for M+Ms]

It's pathetic. 'Disabled' is a perfectly good term. 'Dis-' is a negative prefix, so disabled is not able to do. It applies to people not able to do things most people can eg. Walk, speak, breathe easily

'Special needs' is a stupid term. The meaning needs some kind of term, but 'special needs' is illogical. People who are in wheelchairs, wear glasses / hearing aids, have assma (I know that's spelt wrong) and are diabetic have special needs (weelchairs, glasses/hearing aids, inhalers, medicine) but are not 'special needs'.

^ I realised the above by reading 'The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time', a book about a boy with 'special needs'. I didn't enjoy it that much, even though it pointed this out for me.

I REALISE that I am very bad at communicating with people, am attracted to other girls, am a slow runner and don't have good hand-eye co-ordination, and I don't care when people point it out. Even if they don't say 'Wellll, Cat's a tincy itty bit slow at running, but she's not BAD at it'. I am fine with. 'Cat's crap at running'.

[Shunt]

Seijuro of the Jade Sky

SOMEONE missed the memo that long posts don't give you more gold...

I was counting on more people with completely irrelevant statements...

[Yukito Yu]

Seijuro of the Jade Sky

SOMEONE missed the memo that long posts don't give you more gold...

were you sayng there's somethign wrong with long posts?

[Double_Sins]

I am against the political correctness even though I am fully aware of what I say around those "unique" people. I was watching a t.v show once, I can't remember what it was, but I said this person is a retard. My mom corrected me and said no, their just mentally handicapped. I told her you can't deny the truth and she told that I shouldn't call anyone a retard, doesn't matter who the person is.
My grandmother's paralized from the waist down, so she's in a wheel chair. I often say she's a cripple for jokes and she doesn't mind, but you do have to keep in mind that most "mentally handicapped" like to be like everyone and this is one of the reasons the politcaly corrected words are constantly changing.
I do admit that I used the word "unique" or "special" and of course the famous word, "retard" for insults. I think you just call people what they are, but most people don't because they don't want to hurt others' feelings by doing so.

[kinetisch]

I agree.

[Zorgon]

Mei-Sharyet

I REALISE that I am very bad at communicating with people, am attracted to other girls, am a slow runner and don't have good hand-eye co-ordination, and I don't care when people point it out. Even if they don't say 'Wellll, Cat's a tincy itty bit slow at running, but she's not BAD at it'. I am fine with. 'Cat's crap at running'.

If you have bad hand-eye co-ordination play video games.
It will do wonders. I used to be clumsy with my hands, and now I'm very good with them.

As for political correctness, I prefer to be blunt, without being rude.
One time my Uncle brought his girlfriend over, she had no left arm.
My family seemed to like pretending she wasn't missing it.
I eventually asked, what happened to her arm. Things went more smoothly afterward.
I don't think these people like being patronised, I know I wouldn't.

[Shunt]

Zorgon

I don't think these people like being patronised, I know I wouldn't.

Exactly.

[Reverend Smooth]

Kiyoshi Hayashida

's**t pisses me off too. Have you seen the commercial that outright said "Kids with learning disabilities are smart?" I'm sorry, but just like with everyone else, that's often NOT the case. And of course, this politically correct terminology s**t applies to more than just the disabled... Er, ah... "Unique." I've seen it with gays and old people too. Apparently, some think that "homosexual" is now offensive. Yup. It's too "cold and clinical," as if it's a "disease." And "senior citizen" is offensive now in some places. Yup. Now it's "older person," which I think is more offensive than senior citizen. But that's the cycle in action. Eventually, "older person" will become offensive and it'll change to "senior citizen."

Enstein had a learning disability. I have a learning disability, and yet my IQ certainly qualifies me for mensa. I have no problem with kids with learning disabilities being told that they're smart, because many of them are. One doesn't need to be a genius at math to be a brilliant writer or linguist.

[backwards-rain]

The first time I heard the ridiculous phrase 'differently-abled' was at my cousins graduation when whoever was in charge of their 'special needs' kids talked about them. She obviously started to say 'disabled' but switched to 'differently-abled', so apparently that word is new in our area. I just laughed when she said it--it's obvious the word has no purpose but to be politically correct and sugarcoat things.

[Kiyoshi Hayashida]

Sakurako-sama

Kiyoshi Hayashida

's**t pisses me off too. Have you seen the commercial that outright said "Kids with learning disabilities are smart?" I'm sorry, but just like with everyone else, that's often NOT the case. And of course, this politically correct terminology s**t applies to more than just the disabled... Er, ah... "Unique." I've seen it with gays and old people too. Apparently, some think that "homosexual" is now offensive. Yup. It's too "cold and clinical," as if it's a "disease." And "senior citizen" is offensive now in some places. Yup. Now it's "older person," which I think is more offensive than senior citizen. But that's the cycle in action. Eventually, "older person" will become offensive and it'll change to "senior citizen."

Enstein had a learning disability. I have a learning disability, and yet my IQ certainly qualifies me for mensa. I have no problem with kids with learning disabilities being told that they're smart, because many of them are. One doesn't need to be a genius at math to be a brilliant writer or linguist.

You miss my point. The commercial blatantly said that kids with learning disabilities are smart. Some of them are, but not all of them. That's like saying kids with ADD or ADHD (which I have) are smart. Some are, but saying they all are is just stupid.

[Gilead]

Well, I've grown up with hip problems, so I'm used to limping everywhere I go. And I'll be damned if anybody ever called me special. I'll never run a mile, nor will I be able to keep up walking for a long time. However, I'm a straight A student, and a member of the Academic Team. I can do other things which the physically normal people cannot. So, I don't want any special treatment. I'm not offended by people calling me a cripple, because hell, I am! As a matter of fact, I laugh at it. My friends always rag on me about it, and at first I hated it. But, I really don't care now because I laugh about it.

[maenad nuri]

Mei-Sharyet

'Special needs' is a stupid term. The meaning needs some kind of term, but 'special needs' is illogical. People who are in wheelchairs, wear glasses / hearing aids, have assma (I know that's spelt wrong) and are diabetic have special needs (weelchairs, glasses/hearing aids, inhalers, medicine) but are not 'special needs'.

That's because special needs grew out of special ed, when they needed a term for people who were out of the school system. Besides, working in special ed has taught me that people with LD's and Autism, ect... have special needs. To get the right answer, they may need to verbalize it, rather than write it down, for example.

Quote:

I REALISE that I am very bad at communicating with people, am attracted to other girls, am a slow runner and don't have good hand-eye co-ordination, and I don't care when people point it out. Even if they don't say 'Wellll, Cat's a tincy itty bit slow at running, but she's not BAD at it'. I am fine with. 'Cat's crap at running'.

You obviously don't spend time with the people on the short bus, do you?

They aren't just a little bad with whatever they are bad at, they are extremely bad. I have a girl right now, going into 7th or 8th grade, who is still struggling to count money. (on the other hand we have another girl who is about ready to leave the intensive special ed program we have, and go into a more relaxed version) They need help to get to whatever level they can achieve. With a good program, they are challenged and succede far better than if they are left to themselves.

however, differently-abled is stupid. Disabled works better. Special Ed/Special Needs is a good label, I think, because mentally challenged or retarded isn't always accurate.

[Reverend Smooth]

Shunt

Yes, please do.

My special differently-abled darling!

Yes, the above sentence is becoming a hip sentence with middle aged God-fearing American soccer-mums. New words seem to be replacing old ones when it comes to disabilities – especially mental ones. Well now, we all know that “cripple� is now more an insult than a description of a condition. No mother would call their own child “crippled� anymore, even if it’s the truth. Same case with the word “Moron�. “With special needs� and “unique� are now replacing “disabled� and “incapable of doing…� Why? Political correctness? Why change words that so perfectly describe the truth, and play a game of “beat around the bush with implications�? Because, as mentioned before, many of the commonly used descriptive words have mutated into insults. Nobody wants to be moronic, or crippled. These types of people are stereotypically perceived as weak, stupid, incapable - not very nice things to be. Some very smart person came to the conclusion that the use of different, less specific words will get rid of this problem. “differently abled� replaces “disabled�, “special� replaces “incapable� (usually), “unique needs� replaces “incapable, dependant�.

3nodding

On the one hand, I find it funny that the terms change every other year, it seems. My husband often has no idea what to call himself from year to year- is it crippled, or disabled, or handicapped, and so on? (So he usually refers to himself as a gimp). We'll laugh at gimp or cripple jokes, too, since a good deal of them are funny.

Your condescending attitude, however, offends me. If you don't like how some disabled people refer to themselves, or how others refer to them, then maybe YOU should try being severely disabled. Attitudes have begun to change, FINALLY, (I assume with the language changes) when even as recently as several years ago, people would initially treat him like he couldn't hold down a tech job or, on first sight, assume that he was mentally disabled, too.

I do think that finding positive ways to address and deal with the issue are good, even if that means that the language changes- particularly for kids.

Disability is generally depressing, and it can limit one's options. However, positivity really can help disabled kids to do things that they 'can't'. My husband has no use of his limbs, and yet, through relentless positivity and encouragement by his family (who was often the ONLY one to do so) he learned how to umpire baseball WELL, he learned how to play piano, write, paint, draw, type, and eat just anything without the use of a fork or spoon and without making a mess. People often, after being around him, forget that he is disabled because he doesn't act disabled- even though you can see his disability. Not only that, but he's always upbeat and outgoing, and doesn't let himself get depressed.

If he hadn't had that encouragement, however, and just fulfilled the low expectations that society at the time had for him, he wouldn't've been able to do any of these things. Yes, sometimes the language can go too far, but it's better to be positive and accepting than it is to be negative and judgemental. Cynism's all well and good, but tell that to a kid (or even an adult) who has to work ten times harder than anyone else just to do the same thing. Maybe you think it'd be funny to call them a cripple (and other kids and even adults do, relentlessly), but that s**t SUCKS. Humour's all well and good, but would you call a black person a, well- you know the word- to his face?

[Reverend Smooth]

Kiyoshi Hayashida

You miss my point. The commercial blatantly said that kids with learning disabilities are smart. Some of them are, but not all of them. That's like saying kids with ADD or ADHD (which I have) are smart. Some are, but saying they all are is just stupid.

Right, and telling them they're stupid is SO going to help them work harder to improve themselves.

[maenad nuri]

Sakurako-sama

Kiyoshi Hayashida

You miss my point. The commercial blatantly said that kids with learning disabilities are smart. Some of them are, but not all of them. That's like saying kids with ADD or ADHD (which I have) are smart. Some are, but saying they all are is just stupid.

Right, and telling them they're stupid is SO going to help them work harder to improve themselves.

Yeah, if someone had told me I was stupid because I have severe ADHD, they'd get laughed at as I showed them all of my perfects on state testing, and my placement in gifted programs instead of special ed.

However, some AD/HD people are extremely dumb. And while I won't tell them they are geniuses, I encourage them to work harder by telling them they aren't stupid, and to work through the problem.