The specific language we use in everyday life shapes our ideas and our feelings toward the things we are describing or speaking of and the ideas and feelings of our listeners. This past year, the BBC, in issuing guidelines for its reporters covering the Paralympic Games, indicated that the preferred term to use is disabled person. To many, this term may seem enlightened when compared with handicapped and invalid, which are still considered correct in Uzbekistan and the Ukraine, but behind the curve in the United States. In this country, disabled person violates the “person-first” rule, put forth by disability rights advocates and others, which prefers that the “person” appear first in the description, followed by the condition. This arrangement emphasizes that the disability is a secondary attribute and does not define the person.
Perhaps the focus on proper nomenclature reflects a heightened awareness of the feelings and needs of people with disabilities in this country. Such needs are taken seriously by Lauretta K. Murphy and Alison E. Hirschel, the editors of Advising the Older Client or Client with a Disability. This resource covers all the issues and considerations involved in planning for a person with disabilities.