Disability, language, and Perspectives

1
Disability, language, and Perspectives

• January 15, 2009

2
Impairment

• Impairment
• the loss or reduced function of a particular
  body part or organ (e.g., a missing limb).

3
Disability

• Disability
• when an impairment limits the ability to perform
  certain tasks' (e.g., to walk, to see, to add a
  row of numbers) in the same way that most persons
  do.

4
Handicap

• Handicap
• if the disability leads to educational, personal,
  social, vocational, or other problems.
• Heward, W. L. (2003). Exceptional Children An
  introduction to special education. Upper Saddle
  River, NJ Merrill Prentice Hall. P. 10

5
handicapisms

• Promoting unjust or unequal treatment for
  individuals with disabilities

6
Person-First language

• Put the person before the disability.
• Sharon is in Mrs. Gardners fifth grade
  classroom. Sharon has attention deficit
  disorder.
• Identifying the disability as a characteristic,
  rather than the whole of a child.
• Brett is seven years old and has diabetes.

7
Examples of handicapisms

• Assume that a disability implies handicap
• Seeing people with disabilities as victims
• Seeing them as brave or valiant
• Seeing people with disabilities as afflicted
• Avoiding people with disabilities
• Speaking about people with disabilities in their
  presence, rather than to them

8
Other Handicapisms

• Gerald is confined to a wheelchair.
• Amy is autistic.
• Carrie is wheelchair-bound.
• I have three Downsies in my class.
• She has two wheelchairs and three EDs in her
  class.
• Todd is the only LD student in Karen's class.

9
Brief Quiz

• Please identify which of the following examples
  ARE examples of handicapisms.
• I took my ED class to the park on Thursday.
• Bob has a traumatic brain injury.
• My bipolar sister went on a shopping spree last
  weekend.
• My boyfriend is soo ADD!
• Jeffrey is learning disabled.
• Thats so retarded!