An example of what the social model means: Say I am in a wheelchair - this is what differentiates me from you - we are waiting for the same bus, and when the bus appears it does not have a lift (or one that works), you board, I do not. I have been disabled by the fact that the bus is not accessible. The social model of disability claims that attitudes toward certain types of "difference" and the built environment are what create "disability" - disability is a social construct.
The problem with this type of language use, as illustrated with the current issue at hand, is that people that are not "wise" to the oppressed communities, could potentially use language meant as social critique by social modelists, e.g., "disabled person" or "colored person" (though I don't know of this language debate in race studies, though I could see how it could act as a marker of oppression there, too), and come off as insensitive, ignorant, uncaring, or most charitably, behind the times.
Raising the issue of disability, and bringing this discussion back to the scope of this list, I don't recall there being much discussion of disability issues here, though this could largely be due to my recent disability awareness. I'll do an archive search after this note, but has there been talk of Universal Design and accessibility? The study that was done on this list a couple years back, I'm pretty sure, didn't raise the question of list-users that have disabilities, which could be interesting. I have heard from folks here in Chicago that Minneapolis is a pretty accessible city - again, not something I thought about while I was there - any thoughts on this?
jon. kelland chicago, formerly bryant
On Dec 18, 2004, at 10:42 AM, Jennifer L. Rubenzer wrote:
After college, I worked for a year in a group home for people with
disabilities. It was in training for that position that I first heard
of "people first" language. It's a conscious effort for me to use this
type of speech, which I think is a good thing, it reminds me what we all
learned in kindergarten; we're all more the same than we are different.
REMINDERS:
1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait.
For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________
Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
