I know there exist umpteens of persons out there who believe the choice of
words to be of no importance. I however think that language is one of the
most basic and fundamental carriers of societal values. Though I do not
think it a good idea to just learn everybody a new word if the same old
attitudes persist, this happens to be something I feel strongly about, and I
will take the liberty to dwell on it.
Wheel chair bound is a label used to describe a person in a negative way;
and to all those listening or reading it sends a message of negatives
connected to the person portrayed. This message goes straight into the
unconscious mind and triggers all the old images of the poor, tragic figures
we are supposed to be.
I'll give you an example of how this word functions in the mind of even
children. A child I know, who otherwise have an healthy view (his aunt whom
he loves more than anything and spends alot of time with uses a wheel chair)
gave me a gift of two pictures. One of a person tied to a wheel chair with
chains locked with a huge lock. The other pic was of Aladdin's lamp and out
of it came a "cartoon-bubble" with the text "I wish I had a key". In the
mind of this child the word wheel chair bound (which happens to translate
exactly the same in swedish) had the inherent meaning of somebody chained to
a wheel chair - obviously not a very positve image.
I am dead certain that, even though most grown-ups do not have the
imagination enough to see the chains when the word is used, do see the
victim, the negative, the less than averedge person. This is how attitudes
are inherited, and up-hold through the use of language. When someone uses
wheel chair bound this is an absolute signal to the reciever that he of she
should percieve the use of a wheel chair as something negative.
Then to the part of using a label with absolute no importance in the
context. The use of a label or the description of a characteristic which
does not add to the story or have any bearing on it is, in my opinion, used
when it comes to so called minorities or deviants from the norm i.e.the
great white able-bodied middle-aged hetero-sexual male. As a woman, I can
deliver a speech or a lecture and then hear my performance described as
delivered by a charming young woman. This might seem like flattery but in
fact it takes away the seriousness of the achievment. It has nothing to do
with how I performed my task. And it signals that I was less than serious
(charming) and not really so wise (young) as one of the norm would have
been. If you do not believe this try to describe individuals who coincide
with the mentioned norm in the same way the next ten times you meet them.
For example imagine this dialogue:
- How was the lecture?
- Oh Bill was so good and so handsome in those grey flanell trousers.
Or to go to the negative:
- Who made the installation speech?
- Headmaster, hand-tied-to-pockets Greg.
For me language and the use of words is one way of measuring the temperature
of societies attitudes towards something or someone. And that is how we
should use it, as a tool for education and a way to measure how successful
we are as educators. When journalists, who use language as the basic
instrument in perfoming their work use words like wheel chair bound it
signals that we have a long way to go. I cannot help but feel that it is
amazing that some professions do not take more pride in what they do so as
to develop their working instruments or at least tune them into present
time. The press is supposed to be the third power, the one who watches and
investigates; the one who pushes things like equality and civil rights. At
least that is what some of them over here claims to be doing. If I am wheel
chair bound they sure are close to invalid.
What a sermon !
Was it Simon and Garfunkle who sang "homeward bound" ?
Susanne
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