When speaking, always keep the people first.
SHAUNA: Hi, I’m Shauna, on Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. And Joni, I see you have an interesting email there.
JONI: I sure do. It’s from a woman named Mary who listens to the radio program up in Nebraska, and she writes: “Dear Joni, I listen to your broadcast most every day as I drive to work. However, I must suggest that I have a hard time listening when you refer to persons with disabilities in language other than person first. When referring to someone as an autistic person it’s like referring to someone as a cancerous person, instead of a person with autism or a person with cancer. We are all people first.” Well, I really appreciate Mary’s perspective and advice, really I do. Because for too long, quadriplegics like me have been labeled cripples or invalids and, yes, those terms carry negative overtones. So, Mary is spot-on when it comes to the general principle behind people-first language. But, well, let me read for you my response to Mary. I wrote back saying:
“Mary, thanks so much for your concern about ‘people first language’ on our radio program. Having served on the National Organization on Disability, I'm with you; I’m very familiar with people-first language and, of course, in writing – such as in our ministry brochures or program descriptions – we are always careful to speak of people dealing with a disability or people living with disabilities.
However, and this is just my opinion. When one speaks informally, such as in the conversational, personal tone of, well, okay, this radio program, I’ve just got to use terms interchangeably. Often, I will mix in ‘disabled people’ with people-first language – I may say that the woman who is blind, and in the next sentence, say, ‘the blind lady.’ I do this because when you say ‘people with disabilities’ four or five times within the span of three sentences, you know what? It comes across stilted and awkward. It sounds mechanical, and it's just not the way people talk to one another. Sometimes being overly politically correct is, to me, whitewashing the tough, hard reality of life in a wheelchair; or living with blindness, or daily dealing with pain.
Having said all this, Mary, I am on your side; I’m a people-first advocate. For instance, I never say the ‘polio victim’ or the ‘burn victim.’ I mean, hey, these people are survivors. So, it’s the burn survivor, or the polio survivor. Once in a blue moon I’ll say, ‘autistic children,’ but mostly it's ‘children with autism,’ and so on. It's why I thank you, Mary, for sharing your thoughts – I'm grateful that you took time to send me your email. And the moral of this story, Mary, the Bible tells us to, indeed, weigh our words. Proverbs 18 even says that “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” Honestly, our words have this curious power to make living things wither or bring dead things to life. So, the real lesson, the biblical lesson here, is to be careful of your motive. Always in your words ascribe human dignity and respect. Honor God with your words and bless his people. And if you’d like bring awareness to others, go to joniradio.org and share this program with a friend. And finally, I love hearing from listeners like Mary. So, if you have an idea or an insight or even a criticism, share it with me at joniradio.org. Oh, and one more thing, I just want you to know I’m not confined to my wheelchair. No, this chair is the next best thing to having legs that walk. Yep, I’m a wheelchair-user and I love my set of wheels!
© Joni and Friends