Just rearranging the pidgeon holes Laurence!
rgds John
----- Original Message -----
From: Laurence Bathurst <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2002 10:04 AM
Subject: Re: Language
> Hi folks
>
> I hope your question doesn't become trivialised Claire - anyway my 2 cents
> worth is to agree with Art mostly. The only expressions that make me gag
> are those that objectify people "the disabled" or "schizophrenic" or "the
> handicapped". I therefore cannot agree with Art's forgiveness of
> "immigrants" and "natives". I do have to wonder, and maybe this could be
> something for discussion itself, WHY people use descriptors as nouns when
> they want to evoke pity or evoke more unpleasant feelings. For example,
> newspapers and news broadcasts tend to use lines like "a schizophrenic was
> shot in a siege with police" or "Sharon Smith has raised much needed money
> for the handicapped" or the ever-popular "Known prostitute and mother of
> three, Sylvia Jones was giving evidence in court". It seems like these
> nouns and many others carry particular messages with them and are used for
> effect. Is it about removing the humanness from the person referred to or
> is it more than that?
>
>
>
> At 07:43 AM 6/02/2002 +1100, you wrote:
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "Claire Wickham"
> >
> >
> >
> > >
> > > I use the term "disabled people" and actively encourage others to use
> >this,
> > > noting that here in the UK this is the term selected by the Disabled
> > > People's Movement. In fact I campaign for it. But why does everywhere
else
> > > in the world appear to have adopted "people with disabilities"?
> > >
> >A stab at this one, none of it original:
> >
> >I've observed people getting irritated with either choice, and I change
from
> >week to week. This week I prefer "disabled people."
> >
> >I know that I'm a person, and find it condescending for people to tell me
> >that I'm one. I don't presume that I need to tell other people that
they're
> >people, thus I prefer "middle-aged people" to "people who are middle
aged,"
> >"natives" or "immigrants" to "people who are..." (it gets cumbersome)
> >
> >The "person first" vocabulary is really "disability last", as though
we're
> >apologizing for disability, and this is, after all, a person.
> >
> >The "person first" vocabulary is advocated by folks who'd suggest that
> >disability will mean that we'll stop recognizing that we're talking about
> >people: the hemis, the patients, the clients, even reducing a person to a
> >vertebra (medical approaches are good at doing this).
> >
> >Finally, PWD is a nice acronym; DP I've seen used mainly at refugee
camps,
> >as "displaced people."
> >
> >Art
> >
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> Best Regards
>
> Laurence Bathurst
> University of Sydney
> School of Occupation and Leisure Sciences
> PO Box 170
> Lidcombe NSW 1825
> Australia
>
> Ph: 61 2 9351 9509
> Fax: 61 2 9351 9166
> Email: [log in to unmask]
>
> Work for a living - Leisure for a life
>
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