Hi everyone
Sorry to send this again if you already received it. The message originally contained discriminatory language and was sent back to me.
Dear Lynne and others
"Hear Hear Brendan"? Oh Helen - shame on you. You have probably offended all
of the Deaf people on this list. Whoopsie!! If they're on this list then
they would be deaf not Deaf.
I am being purposefully silly of course (as is my wont).
To be serious for just a moment though, I agree with Brendan that
"disability sport" is appropriate. As is junior sport, masters sport, or
winter sport, summer sport, indoor sport and outdoor sport. All of these
expressions describe something that distinguishes the participants or type
of sport or the environment of the sport etc. I would therefore only have a
concern with the term "disabled sport" which we tend to use here in
Australia. My concern is that it describes the sport as disabled rather than
the participants. I would also take care to avoid the inference of any
dichotomy between elite sport and disability sport by including all relevant
descriptors such as Junior elite disability sport, elite disability sport,
and elite mainstream sport or whatever that should be. Which reminds me;
instead of "non-disabled" or "able-bodied" or "mainstream" which are
supposed to denote someone who looks somewhat like and thinks somewhat like
and functions somewhat like the majority of people in the western world,
what about the term "standard model"? Built to a standard.
I cannot agree with Brendan on the point about language being about
political correctness. It is my opinion that being anti-political
correctness is just being politically correct. I think it just boils down
to ordinary, everyday respect and that we aim to use language that portrays
the meaning that the subject of the language would like portrayed, connoted
or denoted. So rarely do the words "n.g..r" and "fa.g.t" accidentally slip
through my lips but hey! If they do, I just stand on the soapbox of
neo-liberalism and taunt those who sneer at me with the familiar salvo "oh
you're all just being sooo politically correct" and lo, the sensible people
will applaud me (sensible as in "sensible shoes" - with contempt for all
elements of style and contemporaneity but extremely functional and comfy)
In Australia we call a spade a bloody shovel.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Helen Green" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, February 02, 2002 12:44 AM
Subject: Language
> Hear Hear Brendan.
> As a practising health professional there are many times, particularly in
> meetings, I find choosing 'an appropriate' word difficult if not
impossible,
> without the actual or perceived risk of offending those present.
> When I talk with parents of and children/young people with disability
which
> may include a learning disability, they "call it like it is, and stop
> plitterin' around." Maybe that's because where I come from, in the north
of
> England, a shovel is called a shovel.
>
> Helen
**PLEASE NOTE NEW EMAIL ADDRESS**
Best regards
Laurence Bathurst
School of Occupation and Leisure Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
University of Sydney
PO Box 170
Lidcombe NSW 1825
Australia
Ph: 61 2 9351 9509
Fax: 61 2 9351 9509
Email: [log in to unmask]
See School Website www.ot.cchs.usyd.edu.au
Home Ph: 61 2 9818 2050
Mobile Ph: 0407 069 441
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