27.1: Readings- The Power of Language by T Nowacki

12.1 The Power of Language

Language is powerful: it not only reflects our realities, but also shapes our realities. Choosing to use language that is inclusive and respectful—and accurate—is not only respectful to ourselves and others, but it helps change our minds.

The reality is that much of the language noted below is completely normal in everyday conversation, and sometimes slips into academic writing. If you use this language, you are not bad or unkind. You’re likely just unaware of the effect or history of the language, and that’s ok! That’s what this chapter is for!

It’s normal to feel uncomfortable when learning something new and changing the ways you do something. For some, this brings up defensive feelings like “why do I need I need to edit myself for other’s preferences?” or “I don’t mean it like that--this is just some PC nonsense.” If you find yourself thing such things, remember that you’re learning and that this work is important in both an academic sense, and in personal, professional, and communal growth.

Step One: Remove Overtly Ableist Language

Stupid, dumb, lame…these may seem like innocuous terms for things we find unfavorable: the most recent episode of your favorite show was disappointingly dumb; the party last weekend was lamer than expected. One, these terms are almost uselessly general. What do we mean when we describe a show as dumb? Was it uninteresting, lacking creativity, or where there plot holes? It’s very unclear. The only thing that’s clear is that it’s unfavorable. That leads to the second point: by equating disability—intellectual in the case of dumb and stupid, and physical in the case of lame—to general unfavorability, you not only disrespect people with disabilities, you also further shape an ableist reality for yourself and your audience.

It’s true that English, like any widely spoken language, is alive and ever evolving. This means definitions change; it also means new words develop and are increasingly widely adopted, and then die out. Language is dynamic, but it often takes a very long time for a word’s meaning to completely change.

For example, over the course of 400-500 years, the word “awful” went from a positive meaning of “something that inspires awe and reverence,” a synonym of “amazing,” to a very negative meaning: “something that is dreadful, terrible.”  So, we can’t logically make the argument that the terms below have shifted enough to no longer have their problematic, original meanings.

Remove ableist language

·         Blind to the fact

·         Short-sighted

·         Blind sided

·         Dumb

·         See/seeing as another way to say “understand”

·         Lame

·         Stupid

·         Crazy

·         Psycho

·         Imbecile

·         Falling on deaf ears

·         Handicapped

·         Retarded

·         Crippled/cripple/crippled by

·         Bound to a wheelchair (wheelchair bound)

·         deaf

·         manic

·         Feeble-Minded

·         Normal/abnormal

·         Suffers from [ a disease or disability]

·         Do not refer to people as “females” or “males” unless you have precise reason to do so—say “women/girls” or “men/boys” instead, if noting gender is necessary.

Step Two: Replace Passive Ableist Language when speaking about ability-related issues

Ableist language can often be replaced by more specific phrases, especially in the case of dumb and lame described above. However, we often mean well, and have thoughtfully selected the language we use, but still are not using the most representative and respectful language. Below are some guidelines.

Disabilities/disabled people in general:

·         Disabled

·         Has a disability

·         With a disability

·         With a chronic health condition

·         Has a chronic health condition

·         Neuroatypical/ Neurotypical (replaces abnormal and normal)

·         Neurodivergent

People with physical or mobility disabilities:

·         Uses a wheelchair

·         In a wheelchair

·         With a physical disability

·         With a mobility disability

·         Uses crutches

·         Uses a cane

·         Uses a walker

·         Has [whatever condition the individual states they have]

People on the autism spectrum:

·         Autistic

·         On the autism spectrum

·         With autism [if preferred by individual]

People with intellectual disabilities:

·         Has an intellectual disability

·         With an intellectual disability

·         With a cognitive disability

·         Has a cognitive disability

People with sensory impairments or disabilities:

·         Blind

·         Low vision

·         Deaf

·         Hard of hearing

Keep in mind that it’s often not the disability itself that keeps people from doing things or being included, but rather other’s perceptions of normality and the inaccessible way we create the world. Therefore, instead of saying something like “her blindness kept her from reading all the sci-fi novels she wanted to read” it would be more accurate to say,“the unavailability of braille and audiobooks in the sci-fi genre made her unable to read all the books she wanted to read.”