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Thread: A question on political correctness...
Number of posts in this thread: 3 (In chronological order)
From: ckrugman
Date: Fri, Feb 22 2013 3:27AM
Subject: A question on political correctness...
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I'm going through missed posts as usual and I find that as a blind person
none of these titles are offensive. "The blind" as it is referred to here is
a group similar to a cultural group and in some ways a "blind" culture
exists based on similarities of experiences of blind people.
Chuck
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jesse Hausler" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
To: "WebAIM Discussion List" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = >
Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2012 3:07 PM
Subject: [WebAIM] A question on political correctness...
> I've been in the accessibility/disability field for probably 10 years now
> and I've always wondered about the term, "the blind".
>
> My 4 years in an occupational therapy setting always taught me to lead
> with "people" first, as in "people who are blind", person with a
> disability, etc. And I agree with and have always followed that practice.
>
> But then there are organizations such as the NFB, AFB, and others who have
> "the blind" in their names, charters, etc.
>
> The reason I ask is that I'm putting together a session proposal for South
> by Southwest. The premise is about how using tips and techniques from the
> accessibility field will lead to products that are more universal, future
> friendly, and of course accessible.
>
> Given that SXSW sessions are chosen by popular Internet vote, they
> recommend that titles are catchy, yet informative. A few ideas that came
> up include:
>
> Taking Notes from the Blind - Make it Universal, not Accessible!
> Stealing from the Blind - Make it Universal, not Accessible!
> Stealing from the Blind - Mainstreaming Accessibility for Everyone!
>
> And so on...
>
> So I ask, on a scale of 1 to Offensive. Where does this fall and why?
>
> Thanks for your feedback,
>
> Jesse
> > >
From: Chagnon | PubCom
Date: Fri, Feb 22 2013 9:46AM
Subject: Re: A question on political correctness...
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Jesse wrote: "...to lead with "people" first, as in "people who are blind"
That's a well-intentioned saying, but it doesn't work in many cultures
because it clashes with verbal speech patterns and language syntax, which
become engrained by our late teenage years. Speech patterns are very
difficult to change in later years.
In English, we put modifiers in front of the nouns. Examples:
The red ball, not the ball that is red.
The tall man, not the man that is tall.
So the speech pattern carries through with:
The blind woman, not the woman who is blind.
The paralyzed man, not the man who is paralyzed.
The paraplegic, not the man who is a paraplegic.
Yes, we need to think of people as people first, and their attributes second
whether we're talking about tallness or blindness.
But forcing the public to change its speech pattern or the English
language's syntax is probably not the most effective way to do this. You'll
fight a never-ending unwinnable battle.
Better public relations and education would be a more effective use of your
time.
Or you could just move to a country where the language puts their modifiers
after the noun, like France.
If you spoke French, you would be grammatically and politically correct
saying:
La boule rouge.
La femme aveugle.
l'homme paralysé.
Wow. You can be politically correct and have fabulous coffee and croissants,
all in the same country. What a great excuse to move to France!
Bevi Chagnon
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From: EA Draffan
Date: Sat, Feb 23 2013 5:43AM
Subject: Re: A question on political correctness...
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You could just say 'vive la difference' as you will see that even across the many English speaking countries the phraseology changes. http://www.disability.co.uk/sites/default/files/resources/disability-language-01-07.pdf
Best wishes
E.A.
Mrs E.A. Draffan
WAIS, ECS, University of Southampton,
Tel +44 (0)23 8059 7246
Mobile +44 (0)7976 289103
http://access.ecs.soton.ac.uk