Attitudinal Barriers - Does what we say really matter?

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind"

Words are the "tools" of our profession. We are communicators. The words we use about people influence our attitudes and the attitudes of others.

We create word images to catch and hold our audience. Sometimes our words cause false images. In the case of people with disabilities, this is often the case. Many words and phrases are used, unintentionally, which are part of the "old stereotypes". These continue the myths and false images of people with disabilities. Misunderstandings, misconceptions, suffering and discrimination are the result. An "ATTITUDINAL BARRIER", a wall, is built or strengthened.

ATTITUDINAL BARRIERS. It is the biggest barrier of them all. While it is never written into laws or regulations, it permeates and affects the daily lives of all of us. It affects how we feel about ourselves and how we feel about others. It comes out in the design of buildings and products, as well as job interviews. It is what we think and feel about persons with disabilities.

Over the years the meaning and usage of all words change. This is the case with words that are used in communicating information or concepts about people with disabilities. As with other words in our vocabulary, a more positive, descriptive, sensitive and understanding terminology has come into being. This more enlightened approach recognizes that a person with a disability is more likely to be "handicapped" by discriminatory or condescending attitudes and misconceptions encountered in society, than by the disability itself.

We ask only that you be aware of the attitudes and images your words create. Please use that language that is accurate and that respects the humanity of the INDIVIDUALS, who just happen to have disabilities.

This is being written with the hope that the information will assist you in your efforts to be more understanding and responsive to this problem.

DISABLED OR HANDICAPPED? "The Disabled, The Handicapped, Physically Challenged or "people with disabilities"? For many years there has been some controversy about the usage of these words. "Handicapped" is considered by most people with disabilities to be demeaning and misleading. Most people with disabilities desire to be thought of as a person first (a person with MS), a person who happens to have a disability. Lumping ALL people with disabilities into one group is also coming to be considered objectionable. Being lumped together by some of these terms tend to concentrate on inabilities and not on ABILITIES.

A FATE WORSE THAN DEATH. This is the image some have of people with a disability. NOT TRUE. A disability is simply a fact of life. Stories of "the heroism" and "courage" of people with disabilities are unnecessarily long on emotion and inspiration, yet neglect to address the REALLY IMPORTANT issues of accessibility, parking, employment, education, etc. For most, disability is a normal fact of life, not something to be dramatized, feared or pitied.

The most overused clichés state, "He/She has succeeded IN SPITE of his/her disability" or "he/she has OVERCOME their disability and are so inspiring." The truth is, the person succeeded because of their ability. Sometimes, they even succeed IN SPITE of society's low expectations and outright discrimination.

THINK what the words you choose, say about the person you are describing. Avoid emotive words such as afflicted, deformed, crippled, suffers from, victim, defective, retarded and so on. Do not portray people as victims. Resist the "poor little thing", "feel-sorry-for-them" or "pity-party" syndromes. Bring the same curiosity, open-mindedness and sensitivity to the disabled subject of your story as you would to any other story.

Here are some tips we hope you will find to be helpful: Common Misconceptions—

  1. Disability is inability or a sign of weakness.
  2. Persons with disabilities cannot speak for themselves.
  3. Persons with disabilities must be taken "care" of by non-disabled. Most really enjoy doing things for themselves, even if it does take more time.
  4. All persons with disabilities are hearing impaired.
  5. All persons with hearing impairments can read lips or use sign language.
  6. All persons with visual impairments read Braille. Less than 10% do.
  7. No one really parks in the spaces designated for persons with disabilities.
  8. It is rude to ask persons with disabilities if they need help.
  9. All persons with learning disabilities have the same problem.
  10. Difficulties in comprehensive or expressive language skills reflects a person's educational level or intellectual ability. Those with speech difficulties are sometimes thought to be drunk or on drugs or "DUMB".
  11. Intellectual impairments are catching and dangerous to the neighborhood. (Also Epilepsy, M.S., ETC.)
  12. All persons in wheel chairs must stay in their chairs and have the same problems.
  13. Persons with disabilities are sick and unhappy.
  14. Persons with emotional disabilities do not know or understand what they or others say or do. They are not to be believed or trusted.
  15. Disabilities are contagious.
  16. Seizures, strokes, heart attacks and similar events "just happen" and are the result of the person's medical problems, sickness or poor health. Most are "triggered" and have external causes, usually due to the actions of other people.

Language do's and don'ts:

  1. Always talk about people, not "the disabled" or "the handicapped".
  2. Never use words like cripple, crip, afflicted, spastic, confined, wheelchair-bound, victim, retard, gimp, blinky, invalid, poor, unfortunate, defective, crazy, stricken.
  3. Use mobility-impaired for all who have a mobility problem.
  4. Use hearing-impaired or deaf.
  5. Use vision or visually-impaired. Blind is O.K. for total loss of sight.
  6. "Para" or "Quad" for a paraplegic or quadriplegic.
  7. Seizure is acceptable, not fit, spell or spastic.
  8. Stroke or MS, not a victim or sufferer. This applies to other disabilities.
  9. Speech-impaired not mute, DUMB or DUMMY.
  10. Hidden disability - a person whose disability is not apparent.
  11. Idiot, moron or deficient are not used for intellectually-impaired. The developmentally disabled or learning disabled may also be used.
  12. Emotionally disabled - those with psychological or psychiatric disorders.
  13. Use "people with disabilities" in place of disabled or handicapped people. We are people first; being disabled is secondary.
  14. Some are persons with multiple disabilities.
  15. Normal should be replaced by able-bodied or temporarily able-bodied.
  16. Do not use words that generate a superiority vs. inferiority concept, or use words that disparage the dignity of people or elicit pity.
  17. Accept what appears to be the unusual behaviors of some forms of mental illness as symptoms of the disorder, not a description of the whole person.
  18. Recognize that mental illness creates a gulf between the person and the community.
  19. Do not think that because the person is smiling and nodding, you have communicated. To be agreeable, many people feign understanding.
  20. Ask the individual which terms he/she prefers to have used.

Pointers for positive interaction during interviews with persons with disabilities.

  1. Maintain eye contact. Even with visually impaired. Sit if need be. Being in a wheelchair and looking up at others all the time is hard on the neck.
  2. Keep conversation natural. ("Did you see" or "did you hear" are O.K.)
  3. Talk to person with disabilities directly, not THROUGH someone else. This includes hearing- or speech-impaired. Focus your attention on the person.
  4. Turn off radio, television, running water or air-conditioner when talking with those with a hearing loss. Background noises impede communication.
  5. For the person who is blind, give verbal cues, such as: we are coming to a curb, 4 stairs; you are about to leave, so that person will not continue to converse after you have gone. Identify yourself and others that are present when greeting, and visual aids used when at a group function.
  6. Never touch a wheelchair or crutches (same as touching the individual) unless you mean the same as touching the individual.
  7. Find out which words are best used to describe person with disabilities (same as item 16 above).
  8. Be patient and do not interrupt or try to speak for someone with a speech impairment or someone with a similar problem.
  9. Use normal conversational tone unless hearing impaired person needs you to speak louder.
  10. Do not ask how or when they became disabled. If specific information is needed to assist the individual, a polite inquiry is O.K.
  11. Use conventional words and phrases that are appropriate. (No "run spot run") Most are capable of understanding normal English.
  12. If you do not understand what was said, then simply ask (speech or hearing-impaired).
  13. When talking with those who are visually-impaired, avoid generalities ("over there", "down here"). Be specific and descriptive. Use clock face (three o'clock etc.) to describe locations, or right and left.
  14. Ask if there is material that should not be published. Frequently, criminal types and a few others will seek to take advantage or criminally victimize some individuals with disabilities.
  15. If you make a mistake, apologize and go on naturally.
  16. Ask if you should make advanced arrangements. An interpreter or other assistance may be needed.
  17. Ask the person as to the meeting place. Not all places are accessible, and for others noisy places can be a factor.
  18. Allow extra time. Some people take longer to express themselves.
  19. EXPERTS - those able-bodied and other people who work with people with disabilities in agencies, who feel they "KNOW how people with disabilities feel or their needs". Even most people with disabilities can only explain their own experiences. ALL ARE INDIVIDUALS WITH DIFFERENT PROBLEMS.
  20. Go back over material AND CHECK THE FACTS.

Attitudinal barriers are the REAL and TRUE handicaps. An excerpt from an old Department of Justice Brochure:

ABOUT ATTITUDES?

You can't see an attitude, but the results of attitudes are all around. They span all the other barriers and influence public policy and action. Physical barriers are, in fact, visible evidence of attitudinal barriers. By focusing on the removal of the physical barriers, the attitudinal barriers will also be decreased.

ABOUT MEDIA?

Media plays a major role in shaping public attitudes toward people with disabilities. Although most of us know of someone who is disabled, many of us have little direct contact with a person with a disability. It's this very lack of contact that helps to reinforce our stereotype of people with disabilities as different.

So, it's interesting to see a television episode about a would-be robber in a wheelchair caught between a cop and a curb. The architectural barrier (no curb cut) prevented him from pulling off his caper and the police booked him the same as anyone else.

A story in the Washington Post is illustrative. In the story, a columnist continuously avoids contact with a physically-handicapped reader. Finally, the columnist and reader lunch together. The reader urges him and others to "make contact" with handicapped persons. The columnist concludes publicly there's no handicap "like a closed mind."

"One of the social consequences of being victimized is being labeled a victim. Once a person is so labeled, there is a tendency for others to interpret most, if not all, of that person's emotions and behavior in light of that label. For example, the deaf are often assumed to also be blind or mentally retarded. Furthermore, once one is labeled, it is very difficult to escape from that label" (Taylor, Wood, and Lichtman 1983).

Another hurdle victims face is the prevalence and persistence of what can be called the "Just-World Fallacy". According to this philosophy, people "get what they deserve and deserve what they get." The basic assumption of the just-world fallacy is that if you are sufficiently careful, intelligent, moral, or competent, you can avoid misfortune. Thus, people who suffer trauma are somehow to blame for their misfortune. Even if the victims aren't directly blamed, they are seen as causing their victimization by being inherently weak or ineffectual.

American society is particularly prone to this sort of thinking. The United States was founded by individuals who overcame massive political, economic, and social obstacles by means of hard work, self-sacrifice, and physical and emotional endurance. As a nation today, as in the past, we pride ourselves on our can-do spirit and our American ingenuity -- we are certain we can overcome almost any hardship. The American Dream tells us that our country is so bountiful and so full of opportunities that anyone who wants the good life can have it; all they have to do is pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. Excerpt from book: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, A Complete Treatment Guide by Aphrodite Matsakis, PhD.

A saying that was popular when we were young said," Sticks and stones may break my bones, but, words will never hurt me". With the years now behind us, we have learned that while words may not in all cases cause physical suffering (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - Secondary Wounding is one exception), they can be responsible for many mistakes, misconceptions and misunderstandings that can affect our lives, the lives of others, our relationships with others, our future opportunities and the future opportunities of others.

Dr. Clyde Shideler, Director
CE Disabled Services
San Luis Rey, CA. 92068
(Used with permission)

Last revision - July 2008

 

 
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