Quit trying to be politically correct.
In other words, don’t be weird. 😜
I’m a member of a nonprofit Facebook group, and someone who works for a museum asked, “What is the politically correct term for disabled visitors these days?” As you might expect, everyone had a different opinion. There’s no right or wrong answer here, but the words we use do carry different implications.
At The Universal Design Project, we use “people with disabilities” when referring to individuals, and “people affected by disability” when referring to individuals + their friends/family.
But there are also many perspectives like these:
Differently abled! I used to be the director of operations for a nonprofit who worked with people with disabilities. We should be celebrating people’s abilities not their disabilities! Thus…differently ABLEd
…I respect this opinion. I just think it’s short-sighted.
The problem with using “differently abled,” “people of all abilities,” and similar terminology is that it puts all the focus on the individual. While it indeed feels more positive, it misses the point that disability is at least partially a design (or social) issue. In other words, lack of ability can result because something “doesn’t work” for someone.
Example: let’s say you wear glasses, but still can’t read something because the text is too small. Does that make you severely vision-impaired? What if the text was simply more legible? If that were the case, the “impairment” wouldn’t be an issue.
Think of it this way: it’s weird to celebrate someone for being able to read something because it’s legible, even if they wear glasses.
I’ve used a wheelchair for half my life because of a spinal cord injury. I don’t need a label that celebrates my ability to roll around in public. That’s weird.
You can say that I’m someone with a disability. That at least acknowledges reality, and can lead to conversations about better design.
It’s okay to say it like it is.
Just don’t be weird. 😜
