Here’s why you should stop using differently-abled or any such terms to refer to individuals with disability:
1.The term does not make sense
The term differently-abled dates back to the 1980s, when it was coined by the US Democratic National Committee to refer to the handicapped. The inspiration was to view the handicapped people in a positive light, as well as sound politically correct. Today, the disabled aren’t necessarily handicapped thanks to modern technology such as motorized wheelchairs, hearing ads, and others. With this technology, in place the disabled can do virtually everything their non-disabled counterparts can.
2. It undermines self-acceptance
Most of the people living with disability have undergone some form of therapy and have already accepted their condition. You no longer need to find alternative terms to refer to them in the hope of not hurting their feelings or making them more comfortable. Instead of trying to modify language to massage their egos, you could try to ensure a favorable living and working environment is available for them. Install ramps allow them to work from home let them interact freely with non-disabled people give them equal access to jobs and healthcare and more.
3. It is insincere
Using language to cover up the obvious comes across as pretentious and mischievous. You can’t take away people’s disability by using cleverly crafted terms such a differently-abled. The truth of the matter is that such terms aren’t meant to insulate the disabled from unpalatable feelings. Instead they serve the purpose of preventing the able people from becoming uncomfortable when addressing the disabled in their midst.
4. Welcome the input of the disabled
You can’t purport to fight for the rights of a group of people without their input. When we look at it from a different perspective, we realize it isn’t the job of a particular group to give names to other groups. In this case, the dominant society of the abled is striving so hard to find politically-correct terms to refer to their disabled counterparts. It could time to let the disabled find their own terms to refer to themselves.
Terms like differently-abled no longer have any meaning in the world of disability. They no longer mean what they should and create the impression of insincerity. Consider using the right term “disabled” because most of them have already accepted their condition. For more information, please contact us today.
The disabled community no longer find terms like abled differently, differently abled or special, inspiring. You’d rather stick to using the age-old “disabled” which people stopped using because of its potential to offend people living with disabilities.
