Today was reading the school newspaper and came across these three letters to the editor:
http://media.www.jhunewsletter.com/m...-3824703.shtml
It looks like the three students are in a class on sociology of disability and wrote the letters together, perhaps as an assignment, in response to an earlier article encouraging the administration to build a handicap-access ramp for a new building on campus. I was totally floored by the response. Since when is the word "handicapped" not PC? I don't mean to offend any actual handicapped (or whatever the right term is) people, but I was totally unaware of this.
This part of the letter, in particular, was strange to me:
Dictionary.com defines "handicap" as "any disadvantage that makes success more difficult." Obviously, this definition has many negative connotations. By using the word "handicapped" to describe people with a disability, we imply that they have something wrong with them; the population of people with disabilities disagrees with this assessment. They see their disabilities as attributes or personal traits, not as something negative that needs to be eliminated.
Yes, their lives are more difficult because of their disability - that's why it's a disability. But I don't see why that has a negative connotation. It's not like saying the person is inferior, just that life is harder for them (which is something I doubt they'd dispute). Moreover, and I hope this doesn't come out wrong, there actually
is something wrong with them. A part of their body doesn't work properly. That's not a thing they should be looked down on for, but yes, it is something that is physically wrong with them. It is not a "personality trait". And I think 99% of people with disabilities would readily agree to having that trait eliminated if there was a cure.
And this part just annoyed me because of the incorrect usage of the word "coined":
Although "handicapped" has been (wrongfully) coined for centuries, words like "handicap" or "handicapped" are erroneous and even belittling in referring to the people with disability.
Anyway, what do you guys think? Am I way off base here, or do you think these students are looking to be offended? It might be worth noting that none of them are actually disabled.