Disability is Natural Free Press

• New Products: People First Language POSTER and Awareness Wristbands!

• New Revolutionary Common Sense Articles

• Featured Article: The Hierarchy of Insults

• Oregon Passes Respectful Language Law

• News to Use: Universal Design (for Home and School), College for All, and ASL!

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New Products at the Disability is Natural Store

PEOPLE FIRST LANGUAGE POSTER

Do you believe in the value of using People First Language? Would you like to share your beliefs and educate others? Then you'll want the brand new People First Language Poster for your home, school, or office!

This colorful and motivational poster will help family members, students, co-workers, and others learn the fundamentals of People First Language, and it's a valuable tool to reinforce positive new attitudes about individuals with disabilities!

Parents: why not buy a poster and send to your child's school? Teachers: buy one for your classroom! Human Services Professionals: this poster is a great training tool!

The upper half includes the major themes from my People First Language article; the lower half includes a chart of examples, like those in the article. (Go to the People First Language page to read the article.) You can see a larger image of the poster at the Disability is Natural Online Store. The Poster is 11 inches by 17 inches; $8.00/each or $12.00/each for a laminated poster.

Why not pair the new People First Language Poster with the Poster of the Disability is Natural Video/DVD Text? Create a double-whammy of New Ways of Thinking and save money at the same time! Both posters $14.00 or $20.00/laminated.

WRISTBANDS FOR ALL!

YES---we have the latest fashion statement: disability awareness bracelets!

Choose from: Disability is Natural (green letters on a white wristband), Presume Competence (white letters on a red wristband), or Celebrate Ability (white letters on a blue wristband).

Wear one or two---or all three for a colorful look with a powerful punch, and buy for your children to wear to school! Screen-printed wristbands are soft vinyl, adjustable to fit most children and adults (two sizes in one--6.5 inch and 7.6 inch). $4.00 each, or the set of three different messages for $10.00.

Visit the Disability is Natural Online Store to see these and many other positive, colorful, motivating products, including the new Second Edition of my Disability is Natural book; the Gift Box to share the strengths and abilities of children and adults with disabilities; the new Bumper Stickers; the Disability is Natural DVD and the companion Poster; and the perennial favorites: tote bags, the Presume Competence poster, mini-posters, stickers, T-shirts, note cards, and other items that promote New Ways of Thinking about disability!

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New Revolutionary Common Sense Articles

We've added a new set of articles to the Disability is Natural web site. For inspiration, motivation, and pure provocation, visit the Revolutionary Common Sense page to see these articles. Each is formatted as a handout, so you can share with others!

Let's Read!---Curriculum Modifications for Students with Disabilities---There are many strategies to put in place to help students with reading, as well as using alternative forms of learning. While reading is an important skill, we shouldn't assume that a child can't learn just because he's not yet reading!

The Disability Business---A plethora of government-funded services are offered to people with disabilities and their families. The word---services---warms the cockles of many hearts: recipients may be grateful for the help they receive and providers may be proud of their efforts to help others. This, however, is a view from afar. Up close, things may look differently.

Spotlight on Diversity---Have you ever noticed that "disability" is usually omitted from "diversity" celebrations? Tsk-Tsk!!! But there are many ways we can effect change in this arena. In addition, we can all do better at recognizing and valuing the strengths and abilities of individuals with disabilities!

Environment, Environment, Environment---In real estate, the mantra regarding the most desirable home is location, location, location. To ensure the most desirable outcomes for individuals with disabilities, let's adopt a similar mantra: environment, environment, environment. Where and how a person spends his time can make a whale of a difference in the life he leads!

Home, Sweet Home (and Other Friendly, Welcoming Environments)---I spent years scouring specialty catalogues looking for products that would be helpful to my son---until I realized many useful items are available in ordinary stores! Easy-to-find products can help make life better for individuals with disabilities and their families, and many are in our neighborhood stores!

IDEA: The Law vs. Reality---As another school year begins, many parents and students may discover a huge disconnect between what's required by the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) and what a school district provides. What will it take to remedy this disconnect? And what roles do educators and parents play in the process?

Invisible Abilities---Is it possible that individuals with disabilities acquire compensatory abilities----many of which may be invisible to (and ignored by) others? What might happen when we begin to see these abilities?

Labor Day---This celebration of the American worker is a great tradition of our nation---but does it have any meaning for the millions of adults with disabilities who have no employment to celebrate? This article includes some suggestions for change in the employment arena, as well as resources that can move us in a new direction.

Everyone Needs to be Needed---We're all born helpers. Unfortunately, many children and adults with disabilities have been exempted from both the joy and reponsibility of helping others. But everyone has something to contribute!

Self-Determination for One and All---What is self-determination and who needs it? What's the difference between "true" self-determination and self-determination "projects"? When we change what we do, we can ensure children and adults have the opportunities to lead self-determined lives!

The Case Against "Special Needs"---It's a label that generates pity, it can lead to social isolation and physical segregation, and it's a term the vast majority of adults with disabilities hated when they were children---and they detest it as adults. So why do we keep using this pejorative descriptor?

TMI and Organ Recitals---Are you ready to chuckle and wince in the same article? There's a TMI Epidemic on the horizon and there are too many Organ Recitals being performed---but it's possible to nip these in the bud before things go too far!!!

Visit the Revolutionary Common Sense page to read and download these articles. Enjoy!

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Featured Article:

The Hierarchy of Insults

by Kathie Snow

copyright 2005

Listen to talk radio, watch a sitcom, or just pay attention to your own conversations at home or work, and you'll hear "retard," "idiot," "moron," "imbecile," "lame," "crazy," "schizo," "spaz," and more. The American public has decided that these---and many others---are great words to use as insults and slurs. They roll off the tongue so easily, while the brain gives little thought to what these words mean, where they came from, or what impact they have.

What these and other words have in common is that they were, or are, medical diagnoses. And in our society, these particular diagnoses fall under the category of "disability." But we don't use other medical diagnoses as slurs or insults do we? I've never heard a child on a playground yell, "You're such a diabetic---you can't play with us!" No, retard is the insult of choice.

I've never heard a radio talk show host describe Congress as, "a bunch of sciatics." No, "a bunch of idiots," is a favorite descriptor. On a TV sitcom, I've never heard an actor recite, "That guy's a cancer patient!" No, "That guy's a moron," will get a bigger laugh.

Decades ago, my friends and I hurled "spaz" down school hallways---it seemed such a juicy insult, even though we had no idea what it meant. Irony of ironies, my son has spastic diplegia cerebral palsy.

Upon his birth and my entrance into disability activism, I began caring deeply about language and its impact on people. I've worked hard to clean up my own vocabulary, and have tried to raise my children to be more aware of hurtful words. So when my then sixth-grade daughter used the word "lame" in describing what happened at school one day, a heart-to-heart was in order. When questioned, she revealed that in her circle of friends, lame meant dumb or stupid. We looked up the dictionary definition of this antiquated word, and I explained that some people would still use that word about her brother, since he uses a wheelchair. I then asked what she was saying about her brother, and others with physical disabilities, when she used lame to mean dumb or stupid? She got the message loud and clear, and that word---and others---were excised from her brain.

We need to think about why so many people use this category of words in a derogatory fashion. Could it be that in the hierarchy of insults, these words are at the top of the list; higher than "jerk," "creep," "stupid," and even profanity?

When a child screams "retard" across the playground for all to hear, he's chosen to use a word that will inflict the most emotional damage to another. In his mind, a retard is obviously the lowest of the low. And this example (as well as many others) should trouble us---deeply. For the use of these words as insults represents the extreme devaluation of people with disabilities---men, women, boys, and girls---who happen to have certain medical diagnoses. Does anyone consider how the use of these words hurts those who actually have the medical diagnoses representated by these slurs?

Collateral damage can be just as harmful as a direct hit. And when these verbal missiles are launched again and again---on the playground, at the workplace, in our own homes, and on radio and TV, the wound never has a chance to heal.

As a society, most of us---I hope---have evolved in our thinking. We recognize the danger in using slurs related to ethnicity, religion, gender, or other characteristics, and we've taken those words out of our vocabularies. Isn't it time to do the same with disability-related words?

 

Copyright 2005 Kathie Snow. A version of this article first appeared in The Oregon Clarion, Volume 10, Number 2. If you would like a handout (PDF) of this article, please send your request, along with the title of the article (The Hierarchy of Insults) to: kathie@disabilityisnatural.com. You may share and/or distribute this Email or the PDF version of the article to other individuals (non-commercial use only). As a courtesy, please let me know how/when you use it. Please do not violate copyright laws: request permission before reprinting in publications, chat rooms, list serves, web sites, etc. Please do not hit the Reply button to respond to this Email; your message will be delayed. Instead, click on the Email link above.

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Oregon Passes Respectful Language Law

In the July E-Newsletter, I reported on the passage of the Respectful Language Bill in New York. Advocates on the other side of the country have also been successful! On July 1, 2005, Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski signed that state's Respectful Language Bill into law. According to the July 2005 edition of The Oregon Clarion (a publication of the Oregon Council on Developmental Disabilities), "The new law requires state law and regulations to adopt 'people first language' in new documents. It specifically forbids language that 'does not put the person before the disability.' 'Individual with disabilities' will replace such commonly used terms as 'disabled person'." Oregon's Respectful Language Bill---modeled after a similar law that was passed recently in the state of Washington---was spearheaded by Self-Advocates As Leaders (SAAL), the Oregon Council on Developmental Disabilities, and the Oregon DD Consortium. Congratulations to Oregon advocates and legislators who worked together for the successful passage of this outstanding new law!

And there's more! The importance of language is emphasized in the 2005 Developmental Disabilities Awareness Poster, created by the Oregon Council on Developmental Disabilities and The Arc of Oregon. This poster features the face of young boy and the headline, "Some words do hurt," followed by a description about the harm of using "retard" as an insult. It's very powerful. Visit the Council's web site --- www.ocdd.org --- to see the poster and to learn more!

Visit www.disabilityisnatural.com to read and download the current version of my People First Language article. While visiting the site, I hope you can also take time to review the helpful articles on the Revolutionary Common Sense page.

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News to Use:

Universal Design (For Home and School), College for All, and ASL!

In the market for an accessible home? Charles Schwab Architects (www.universaldesignonline.com) is offering their 3rd Edition of Universal Designed "Smart" Homes for the 21st Century---a book filled with 102 of "the world's first fully-accessible and envrionmentally friendly home plans."

Universal design isn't just a hallmark of great architectural plans---it can also be applied to education! Check out the National Center on Secondary Education and Transition web site (www.ncset.org/publications/viewdesc.asp?id=707) to see the article, Universal Design: A Strategy to Support Students' Access to the General Education Curriculum.

The www.thinkcollege.net web site has a wide array of information in support of students with cognitive disabilities enrolling in postsecondary education! Yes---college is a viable and valuable option, so check it out! And is anyone ever too old to attend college? I don't think so! If you're involved in the lives of adults with developmental disabilities, this web site might provide some new ideas for ensuring adults with DD labels lead the lives of their dreams!

Speaking of dreams, have you or someone you know dreamed of learning American Sign Language (ASL)? According to the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), there is an insufficient number of qualified interpreters across the nation. To remedy this situation, OSERS is planning to establish priorities for a National Interpreter Education Center and Local Partner Networks. While reading about this, I came across a web site (http://filemaker.rid.org) that lists over 150 "Interpreter Training Programs" across the United States, and also includes databases of qualified interpreters and other valuable information.

If you know of a web site or news that would be beneficial to readers of the Disability is Natural E-newsletter, contact us with the information and we'll try to include it in future newsletters! We present such information as a courtesy---not as an endorsement--- in the hope it might be helpful to others.

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Thanks for your interest in new ways of thinking! Feel free to print and share this E-newsletter and/or forward to others. (But please request permission before reprinting any portion of this newsletter in any other publications, chat rooms, web sites, etc.) We'd also like you to contact us and share your comments and ideas about this newsletter, the Disability is Natural web site, or anything else of interest. (Note: do not hit your reply button to write us, as your communication will be delayed. Instead, click on the Contact Us link above or the Email address below.) If you received this Email from a friend and would like to subscribe, visit www.disabilityisnatural.com or send an Email to kathie@disabilityisnatural.com with your request.

And thanks for all you do to create a more inclusive society where everyone belongs!