Speak well - be sensitive

Disability Awareness Month - how to be sensitive and "speak well"

Did you know . . .?

  “Did you know. . . That the word "crippled" is offensive and considered pejorative by most people in the disability community?   What is known as People First language should always be used.  For example, "the person who has a disability", or "people who are deaf", rather than "deaf people". This puts the emphasis on personhood rather than on the disability. This may seem like a trivial distinction, but lots of research tells us that the way we speak helps form our perceptions.  

Phrases like "suffering from" or "victim of" help promote negative stereotypes about people with disabilities. Being seen as suffering or a victim are not helpful images. It doesn't promote equality or dignity. 

So may God help us to "speak well", be rightly sensitve for the sake of others and aware of the power of our words.