Disability Characteristics and Political Correctness

[janesprints]

How about human?????? (from an aspie viewpoint from within a spectrum family)

[kimmijo]

HAHAHAHA, good one!

[bigrider2806]

i call myself a cripple, mainly cause i hate all the pc rubbish around now.

[danagasta1]

I just say people, unless the disability is part of the story I'm telling or whatnot. Otherwise, it doesn't really have any bearing on anything LOL.

[AniramSB]

I agree that most people without a disability do not know exactly how to react to disabled people. On the other hand, I am highly empathetic and want to interact with people that appear to be "starving" for interaction, and do the best I can to interact with them. My son is autistic and I've learnt a lot about disabled people in the past few months,

[AniramSB]

(cont.) but even before I was a mother, I remember having a mentally challenged neighbor whom I was always kind to. He was also a lot older than me, as he was probably in his 50's and I was in my 20's, but I always treated him well. One day he invited me to come over to his place and play chess.

[AniramSB]

(cont.) I told him that I didn't know how to play chess and he said he would teach me and I accepted the invitation. I remember begging my boyfriend to go with me because I did not want to give the guy any wrong impression. When we arrived at his place, he was dressed up, offered us coffee and taught us how to play chess. I felt really good about spending those hours with that guy.

[AniramSB]

(cont.) I could see that it meant something to him. So yea, even though I fear giving the wrong impressions and fear saying something wrong, I still take the risk and interact with them, because to me there is nothing better than making people feel good and worthy, disabled or not.

[MusicalAspie]

You seem to have good intentions, but I believe you are thinking about this too hard.I don't think that disabled people are as fragile as you might think.I think that the best advice I can give you is to never make assumptions about anyone or their abilities.Approach with an open mind and without preconceived notions.A lot of people make assumptions about me, and they are usually wrong.

[tastysalad]

perfect!thanks man!

[Zordacian99]

hey there Patrick here

Im intellectrually disabled with a high function disability-I also have video on you tube-I just saw yor video its awesome

[DotPaulish]

Was that all in one take?

[scifipaladin]

This Kool-aid that you refer to is what got people like me out of institutions. It is what passed IDEA of 1975. The only thing that I disagree with the movement on is its tendency towards stagnation in actually making comprehensive change on Disability program reforms. The other I thing I don't like about the movement to be fair is the tendency to play victim.Those who know to get out will find self pride.

[scifipaladin]

People do pc things for protection. This is why you have the Independent Living Movement out there. To gain the rights that would have been taken away other wise. Some of the terminology that you object is also at some points considered a sign of respect. Again I challenge you to actually debate me. Either through Video or comments.

[susangm]

Your video was very well thought out. Thanks for giving this topic your attention.

[biliff1]

You're a very intelligent man. You put logic to the frustration the rest of us feel with the PC minority. But what's the answer? Don't talk to physically or mentally disabled people?

[rnb8220]

A person with a life long disability would be a little more demeaned if anybody is sitting there nervous about how to interact with them. Society indirectly shows us that we're not the norm. There are subtle social values + actions that may keep us from interacting exactly as majority. You should come across respectful & not overly obsessed with what to do to get a good reaction. Every disability is different. Just don't be patronizing or too self congratulatory.

[alkalinechewy]

Are you disabled?

[Spydyee]

Also some of us do not have speech while others do. Some of our non-verbal members use sign language so many of us have learned to sign. here is my proposition to you. If you know you have frequent interaction with deaf people because you frequent the same "mall" that a deaf organization of some type frequents then take the time to learn some basic polite conversational sign language.

[Spydyee]

You would have a problem communicating with my non-verbal son and yes you would insult him if you talked to him the way you describe talking to children in general. From what we can ascertain in spite of his limited expressive language we place his IQ at about 127-132 roughly but may be higher if his expressive language was better.

[Spydyee]

Perhaps you would do better to assume high intelligence in all people and realize that expressive language does not equate to intelligence. If it did then Mark Twain would have had no need to enlighten us with this informative statement:

It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

[dark420bishop]

You have some interesting points but you need some work on your delivery (not that I have a ton of room to talk or anything). More specifically, in this video, I get the strong impression that you are reading two reasons. One is the cadence, it sounds like you're reading from the halting rhythm. The other is the language. While what you're saying would sound fine on a written page, some of the words you use sound strange and too formal when spoken aloud.

[CanItAlready]

I got that impression also (that this was being read), based on the cadence, yes, but also the eye movements. It looked like his eyes were moving across lines of text on the screen.

[Spydyee]

I am not sure what difference it makes if it is read or not. Some people get nervous when talking to a camera and have to compose their thoughts ahead of time. Most newscasters use a teleprompter and read the news so what is the big deal about this statement being read may I ask? Am I missing something here?

[sneech2]

I think it was very admirable of you to learn and use sign language.The girl sounds very bitter and not somebody I'd like to know.But, I think we need to understand where some people are coming from. Many deaf ppl are used to others exaggerating mouth movement yet are just fine without these considerations. Try to imagine how you'd feel. You did a very nice thing, don't get me wrong. But maybe think of what she has probably experienced before meeting you.

[sneech2]

Oh and Spydee made a good point, too. It sounds like you meant to say "sorry" but ended up signing "please," which would have been rude if you did. Maybe she thought you were shoving her out of the way (if she doesn't lipread).

[sneech2]

Sorry to hop on the PC train here, but I think this is something that can shed new light on how we view people with disabilities:

disabilityisnatural. com/peoplefirstlanguage.htm

[Spydyee]

HOWEVER, some of us particularly those of us on the autistic spectrum prefer not to use people first language because to say that we are a person with autism is to say that having autism is not consistent with being a person.

[Spydyee]

We are Autistic People. Our difference is pervasive and there is no "we" to separate from the difference. The difference in our brain wiring is such a part of who we are that to fix(cure) it would be to literally kill who we are as a person. What is PC may not be totally people correct.

[johnnycr57]

I am a man first, and then a man with disabilities. Unfortunately I am in KANSAS where disabilities are of no concern to the state or it's government.

[Spydyee]

FYI cont.

If she was angry about what you signed it was because what you said was please which in that scenario might have seemed like you were upset with her for being in your way. If she did not lip read then she thought you were saying PLEASE! as in PLEASE GET THE H@## OUT OF MY WAY! As you can see this little difference in the use of words can create a huge misunderstanding.

[Spydyee]

FYI The deaf girl was correcting you signing. The closed hand (the ASL sign for the letter A) circled over the heart is the sign for sorry or regret or apology. She may have been more frustrated by your attempt to speak "At" her then your incorrect signing. I mess up signs all the time and my deaf friends kid me about it but they don't get angry. They do get angry at people talking "at" them because many of them do not lip read.

[CanItAlready]

I think, though, that perhaps expecting a hearing person to automatically shut off speech (something he/she's been using pretty much his/her entire life) when using sign language would be like expecting a deaf person to not sign when communicating with a hearing person. Yes/no?

[Spydyee]

I have Autism. I have no physical disability to speak of and would love to have someone help me open a door when I have packages in my hands and am struggling. If we are to treat people equally then it would have been appropriate for the host to help that person if the host would have helped a non-disabled person. If the host is just a jerk and would not have helped anyone then he was treating that person equally. So the question is would the host have helped you if you were having a problem?

[ElectricShark]

Agreed.

[redrum12]

hahaha! listen to yourself reading it off the screen.

[kozobarich]

FYI: most Deaf people don't consider themselves disabled.

[mgpowers]

you should memorize the stuff

[rdangelo]

People need to lighten up and get a life.

[grantlairdjr]

Ummm... Do you have transcript for it?

Just wonder what you said.

[lordalfredhenry]

A very smoothly written/said statement. I think sometimes, it's how things are said more than how people tread on the +euphemism treadmill+. Everyone has to learn. Not every approach will ever be perfect. Being patient and open to doing thing less easy/being principled helps.

[fafaintexas]

Alternatively Gifted....lol, too funny. Mind if I use it?

[BNDS9]

You seem to have a good opened mind, way to go man.

[wheels105]

You rule, TB my friend. Please keep doing videos, I appreciate the videos you make, and I'm honored that we are friends. I hope that you'll always be on YouTube because your friendship and support truly does mean so very much to me, it truly does! Have an awesome day and GBU!!!! :)))

[laparcell]

I love your video's

[wheels105]

Thanks buddy. :)) I appreciate your comments very much! :))

[TheBashar99]

Just FYI, when I reviewed the uploaded video I realized that when i say, "the strained speech of cerebral palsy", it can be misinterpreted to be "strange speech". I said "strained" and had no intention of saying strange. Apologies if anymore mishears that.