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Tuesday, March 02, 2010

Why the word Disabled does not refer to Ellie

10 comments:

Candace said...

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

Erin said...

wow, so powerful. i'll have to steal this for my blog... just hope that people actually take the time to listen all the way through.

Jacqui said...

You are so talented. I spent all night trying to embed this video on to my blog. I'll just send people over here instead!

Rubypat said...

Wow - so powerful. My child is NOT disabled - she so does not fit those definitions. Yes, she has a disability, but no longer will I refer to her, or think of her, as DISABLED. Thanks for this.

Anonymous said...

Just coming over to say hi, and that I'm blogging again, and that WOW! Ellie has gotten so big and is so gorgeous!

Kathryn said...

Rubypat - I agree - it changed my language in use as well.

Retiredwaif - glad to see you are back blogging. Thanks for the link to WCD's blog and the ad campaign.

julie said...

I totally get the point that Aimee Mullins is making, but I disagree with the way she is making it. She isn't reading the definition of the word disabled from a dictionary, but using a thesaurus which provides synonyms. These synonyms might be used when speaking of a "disabled" car, idea, appliance, etc. To assume that the thesaurus is negatively referring to every human being with a disability makes no sense. She is a powerful speaker, but I question her word choices.

Kathryn said...

Julie you make a good point for sure. I do think, however, that the general understanding of disability in humans is similar to that of an appliance that is broken and somehow less. I think, regardless, of the writing of the thesaurus, that the view of disability IS that pervasive. However, I now need to look the word up in the dictionary. ;-)

julie said...

Unfortunately, I am sure that you are right about the view of disability. The writer in me just had to correct the mis-use of a thesaurus. ;)

Kathryn said...

Julie- that would be a great philosophical discussion about how words do and do not define us as well as the impact of how we chose what is a synonym and antonym! ;-)