Person-first language

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Person-first language is the latest in the lineup of politically correct ways to patronize the disabled a wonderful way to ensure inclusion, freedom, and respect for persons with handicapableness.

Contents

[edit] How it works

When referring to disabled people, with specific regard to their disability, one is supposed to preface any mention of said disability with the mention of the fact that they are people, and also not mention that they are actually disabled.

There are two things wrong with the statement, "X is blind":

  1. It makes no mention of X's humanity, reducing him to his blindness. Modify: "X is a person with blindness."
  2. But this is still problematic since it harps on what is wrong with X, similar to how a person who cannot carry a tune in a bucket might harp on about not being a prima donna. Modify: "X is a person who sees with a dog and a white cane."

[edit] Examples of PFL

Some more substitutions:[1]

Original version Person-first version
X is batshit crazy. X is a person with a mental health condition.
X is quadriplegic. X is a person who has been diagnosed with a physical disability.[2]
X is non-verbal. X is a person who communicates using a speech synthesizer.
X is brain-damaged. X is a person who has a brain injury.
X is black. X is a person of color.
X is gay. X is a person whose primary sexual attraction is towards people of the same sex.
X is smart. X is a person whose intelligence is significantly above that of the general population

Some more specific examples:

Original version Person-first version
X is a woo-meister. X communicates using his large intestine.
X is brain-damaged after his temporal lobe was destroyed by a sharpened crucifix. X is a person with creationism.
X is brain-dead. X uses his brain more than Mr. Schlafly uses his.

[edit] Who cares and who doesn't

Everybody is horrified at how disabled people are dehumanized by putting the name of their disability before the word "person" in a sentence — except, of course, for disabled people themselves. The National Federation of the Blind has rejected person-first language,[3] as have the deaf community[4][5] and many autistic people.[6][7][8]

One of the reasons they give is that saying "person with Y" carries the implication that Y is something bad or undesirable, while many disabled people do not view Y quite so much that way. After all, "person first language" is employed only with disabilities; while "blind person" is reworded as "person with blindness" (or "person with sight impairment"), no one refers to a gay person as "person with gayness" (and using such language would probably be interpreted as being very anti-gay). Besides, just saying Y saves words!

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Footnotes

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