Disability, language, and Perspectives Fall 2009 Impairment Impairment: • the loss or reduced function of a particular body part or organ (e.g., a missing limb). Disability • Disability: • when an impairment limits the ability to perform certain tasks' (e.g., to walk, to see, to add a row of numbers) in the same way that most persons do. Handicap • Handicap: • if the disability leads to educational, personal, social, vocational, or other problems. Heward, W. L. (2003). Exceptional Children: An introduction to special education. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall. P. 10 handicapisms Promoting unjust or unequal treatment for individuals with disabilities The International Symbol Person-First language • Put the person before the disability. “Sharon is in Mrs. Gardner’s fifth grade classroom. Sharon has attention deficit disorder.” • Identifying the disability as a characteristic, rather than the whole of a child. “Brett is seven years old and has diabetes.” Examples of handicapisms • Promoting unjust or unequal treatment for individuals with disabilities • Focusing on the disability, rather than the person (not necessarily the same as “person-first” language) • Assume that a disability implies handicap • Seeing people with disabilities as victims • Seeing people with disabilities as brave or courageous • Seeing people with disabilities as afflicted or suffering • Avoiding people with disabilities • Speaking about people with disabilities in their presence, rather than to them Other Handicapisms • • • • • Gerald is confined to a wheelchair. Amy is autistic. Carrie is wheelchair-bound. I have three Downsies in my class. She has two wheelchairs and three ED’s in her class. • Todd is the only LD student in Karen's class. Brief Quiz • Please identify which of the following sentences ARE examples of handicapisms. • “I took my ED class to the park on Thursday.” • “Bob has a traumatic brain injury.” • “My bipolar sister went on a shopping spree last weekend.” • “My boyfriend is soo ADD!” • “Jeffrey is learning disabled.” • “That’s so retarded!”