Comments on: The Problem with Person-First Language: What’s Wrong with This Picture? https://www.disabilityandrepresentation.com/ableism/the-problem-with-person-first-language-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/ Changing the Cultural Conversation Wed, 17 Jul 2024 11:52:09 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 By: lucia https://www.disabilityandrepresentation.com/ableism/the-problem-with-person-first-language-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/#comment-474 Wed, 17 Jul 2024 11:52:09 +0000 https://www.disabilityandrepresentation.com/the-problem-with-person-first-language-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/#comment-474 hi

I just discovered this blog and here is my response. it wasn’t meant in the way its been described in this blog. it was a reaction to exactly what you are saying 🙂

]]> By: romham https://www.disabilityandrepresentation.com/ableism/the-problem-with-person-first-language-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/#comment-473 Wed, 17 Jul 2024 11:52:01 +0000 https://www.disabilityandrepresentation.com/the-problem-with-person-first-language-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/#comment-473 Gah! i didnt even see the shadows til you mentioned them. Not a fan of this graphic or it’s message.

Too often people tell me “but I don’t see your disability!” and “I don’t think of you as disabled!”. It’s troubling for me because, well, hi denial; but also, it makes assumptions about what i have going on, people assume they know what my “disability” is, what it contains, and they’re wrong. I have disabilitIES, and they are varied; because there exists the one manifestation that most people can understand and recognize as “Disability(tm)” (i.e. being on wheels) doesn’t mean they have any understanding of what’s going on for me. Yet, without really much info at all, they are able to erase my reality as a gimp. Powerful.
And really annoying lol.

]]> By: Nick https://www.disabilityandrepresentation.com/ableism/the-problem-with-person-first-language-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/#comment-472 Wed, 17 Jul 2024 11:51:53 +0000 https://www.disabilityandrepresentation.com/the-problem-with-person-first-language-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/#comment-472 I think that identity-first language probably one of the best ways to go about using terms that relate to a person’s disability. I don’t typically call myself a “person with bipolar.” I don’t “suffer from bipolar.” I usually just say, “I’m bipolar.” It’s just a part of me. But it does make a difference in what other people’s use of the word is; a disability isn’t something that’s meant to be used as a joke. Getting back to identity-first language, it is important to get to know how a person addresses their own disability. I personally feel like mine is part of me, it has been for most of my life, and if I weren’t bipolar, I wouldn’t be me.

]]> By: Haddayr https://www.disabilityandrepresentation.com/ableism/the-problem-with-person-first-language-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/#comment-471 Wed, 17 Jul 2024 11:51:45 +0000 https://www.disabilityandrepresentation.com/the-problem-with-person-first-language-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/#comment-471 HEAR, HEAR!
:fans you:

]]> By: lucia https://www.disabilityandrepresentation.com/ableism/the-problem-with-person-first-language-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/#comment-470 Wed, 17 Jul 2024 11:51:37 +0000 https://www.disabilityandrepresentation.com/the-problem-with-person-first-language-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/#comment-470 In reply to Haddayr.

it was the point of the graphic.. I am the designer of the shadowed disability symbol and you can read my response to this blog (which I have just discovered) here. http://allbigideas.blogspot.com/2014/02/representing-invisible-disability.html

]]> By: Haddayr https://www.disabilityandrepresentation.com/ableism/the-problem-with-person-first-language-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/#comment-469 Wed, 17 Jul 2024 11:51:28 +0000 https://www.disabilityandrepresentation.com/the-problem-with-person-first-language-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/#comment-469 In reply to Jeff W..

Jeff, I feel like that was the POINT of the graphic, but that it simply didn’t work, as it contained all of the unconscious background assumptions Rachel mentions.

]]> By: Jeff W. https://www.disabilityandrepresentation.com/ableism/the-problem-with-person-first-language-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/#comment-468 Wed, 17 Jul 2024 11:51:20 +0000 https://www.disabilityandrepresentation.com/the-problem-with-person-first-language-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/#comment-468 Yes and no. Yes – “See BOTH the person AND the disability. Because there is nothing dehumanizing or shameful about a disability.” But I don’t think it’s about denial. Artistically, this doesn’t work. This graphic is a commentary on our perceptions of the disabled. We take in so much of our information visually that it is easy to make judgements based upon appearance and forget that what makes a person a unique individual is so much more. This graphic is a reminder that we all need to love the whole person irrespective of any physical limitations. The shadows are an acknowledgement of the disability and an effective way of saying that it is part of who the person is, but not the primary defining characteristic of that person. As for the gender pairing statement, I think this is reading too much into it. Note that in every case, one figure is separated from the next by text of some sort. I don’t think any pairing is intended.
So in the end, I don’t think the graphic is about separating a person from a disability. It is about us perceiving the person first and the disability second – and not vice versa.

]]> By: EB https://www.disabilityandrepresentation.com/ableism/the-problem-with-person-first-language-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/#comment-467 Wed, 17 Jul 2024 11:51:13 +0000 https://www.disabilityandrepresentation.com/the-problem-with-person-first-language-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/#comment-467 On a related topic, it strikes me that some of the educational and therapeutic interventions that are devised for children with disabilities, particularly autism and/or cognitive disabilities, are so intense and so unremitting that they indicate an unwillingness to accept the child as s/he is. The goal seems to be to transform the child into one who is indistinguishable from children without disabilities. Of course we have to support high quality education for all children, but not at the price of refusing the reality of who the child is.

]]> By: Trance https://www.disabilityandrepresentation.com/ableism/the-problem-with-person-first-language-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/#comment-466 Wed, 17 Jul 2024 11:51:05 +0000 https://www.disabilityandrepresentation.com/the-problem-with-person-first-language-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/#comment-466 In reply to Bob Bennett.

Yes. Neurotypical empathy is NOT the be all, end all of empathy. It’s limited.

]]> By: Bob Bennett https://www.disabilityandrepresentation.com/ableism/the-problem-with-person-first-language-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/#comment-465 Wed, 17 Jul 2024 11:50:58 +0000 https://www.disabilityandrepresentation.com/the-problem-with-person-first-language-whats-wrong-with-this-picture/#comment-465 Of course, the largest unrecognized disability is the closed mindedness of the many who consider themselves ‘normal’.

]]>