{"id":3606,"date":"2015-05-21T05:04:03","date_gmt":"2015-05-21T05:04:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=3606"},"modified":"2016-08-14T04:52:00","modified_gmt":"2016-08-14T04:52:00","slug":"forever-crooked-how-everyday-language-reflects-negative-attitudes-about-the-physically-disabled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/forever-crooked-how-everyday-language-reflects-negative-attitudes-about-the-physically-disabled\/","title":{"rendered":"Forever crooked: how everyday language reflects negative attitudes about the physically disabled"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jessi Elana Aaron<\/a>, University of Florida<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Because there\u2019s a quite lengthy list of offensive terms<\/a> connected to disability, when we think of how disability is expressed in our language, it\u2019s most commonly in the context of avoiding this offensive language<\/a>. No surprise there.<\/p>\n

However, there are more subtle ways in which the disabled are belittled and excluded \u2013 often covertly \u2013 in everyday life.<\/p>\n

It could mean segregating children with disabilities in our public schools, as educator Torrie Dunlap outlined in a recent TED talk<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But in language, it\u2019s not just obvious words like cripple<\/em> or deformed<\/em>. In fact, many common turns of phrase insinuate that being disabled is a bad<\/em> thing.<\/p>\n

As author, multimedia storyteller and wheelchair user Dr Ju Gosling<\/a> explains<\/a>, \u201cThe oppression and exclusion of disabled people by society is currently enshrined in our language.\u201d<\/p>\n

Focusing on physical disability, let\u2019s take a closer look at how this happens.<\/p>\n

Descriptions of the physically disabled<\/h2>\n

Though it may seem easy enough to rid ourselves of the language thought of as offensive at a given moment in time, a glance at the history of such terms makes it clear that erasing words will not erase the social structures behind them.<\/p>\n

Instead, words referring to disfavored groups tend to go through what psychologist Steven Pinker has called<\/a> the \u201ceuphemism treadmill.\u201d<\/p>\n

With regard to physical disability, for instance, just in the past few decades, several terms have been run off the track<\/a>:<\/p>\n