For those who don't know what person-first language is, it is where you place the individual before the condition. In other words, instead of having a "disabled person" you have a "person with a disability." I can't stand it!
It's not that I feel that there's anything necessarily wrong with saying "people with disabilities," in fact I do it all the time. My problem is that person-first language goes beyond that: Person-first language holds that placing the condition before the individual is dehumanizing in language and that by placing the person before the condition you reinforce the fact that the condition does not alter the fact that the individual is still a human being.
Great! Swell! We could all use more dignity and humanity in our lives, right?
Well, I call a big, loud bullshit. I say that the only time that sticking an adjective before my noun is dehumanizing is when that adjective is seen to be dehumanizing in the first place! Saying that I am a disabled woman is only demeaning if you believe that disability is dehumanizing! Would you consider it dehumanizing if I described someone as an intelligent person?
No, you wouldn't. That's the point.
I fight so that who, and just as importantly what I am is seen with respect, dignity, and equality. I don't fight so that people will be seen as human despite their differences and that, fundamentally, is what I feel person-first language does.
So, for what it's worth thats what I think of people first language.
Hello world!
1 year ago
3 comments:
I've been protesting "person with disability" and the like for years, on environmental grounds, generally using a lot of Michael Oliver and boring a lot of people to death.
I've never encountered an explanation of why the expression is so loathsome as clear and concise as this before. It's startling how easy it is to sidle around the heart of those phrases, as we're being damned (or dehamanissed) by what so many people consider politically-correct faint praise when they say X is a person-wth-a-disability.
I am very glad to have stumbled upon this. Forgive the rambling.
Cheers.
Kit.
@Kit Thank you!
I should look into this Michael Oliver fellow and see what he has to say.
Yeah, I wonder how many progressive people will get this. Ultimately it's not about the words you use, it's about how you treat that person. It's about not othering them, and all the political correctness in the world won't change that.
Mina.
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