Tuesday, April 8, 2008
People First
As I was reading other blogs I noticed that some about disability use the term "disabled people" as opposed to "people with disabilities." All of my life, it's been drilled into my head, from myself and others, that I am a person first! My disability does not define me. I am a person first. My disability is not who I am. I know people with disabilities who like the term "disabled person" but in my thinking there are many people who have trouble seeing me as a person first, and I don't want to encourage that. For us to educate the public about showing dignity to people with disabilities, disability organizations need to show leadership by being conscious about what kind of language they use and putting the person before the disability.
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Funnily enough, this came up in the past week. A professional noted that we cannot cope with disabilities for decade after decade without going a little crazy. My conclusion is that although I'd not want to be defined in terms of my disabilities, my disabililities do have an influence on who I am and help me not to take myself too seriously.
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