Open Letter: How the FOSS Community May Help Disabled Users

[Tim]

On Fri, 2006-04-28 at 12:35 -0400, taharka wrote:
> Might I suggest in the future, you use the terms physically/mentally
> challenged instead of disabled users? Here in the U.S. there is a
> never ending supply of politically correct nuts :-((

All the descriptive terms are generally insulting.  And as you speak to
different disabled people (using their term, here, according to the
disabled friends that I have), they'll describe themselves differently,
and get annoyed at someone saying what they should be called.  One of my
friends is not "visually challenged," he's "blind," and he'll tell you
that he's not bloody disabled.  And in rather stronger language than
I've just used.

Handicap - someone else's idea about your abilities
Retarded - held back (probably one of the more insulting sounding terms)
Disabled - unable to do something
Intellectually disabled - virtually means that you're stupid
... and the list goes on.

There is no such thing as actually being politically correct, they
nearly all have double meanings, and often are a rather poor description
of someone's abilities/disabilities/conditions.

-- 
(Currently running FC4, in case that's important to the thread)

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