People
First, Words
Second How we talk about disability
evolves with culture
by Megan Gregoire
e live in a constantly evolving world.

Our society is one that feeds off the blending
of cultures, the changing of rules and people
stepping up and dictating new ways of life.

Language has become a big part of this change, giving smaller and larger communities
a way to articulate their opinions and voice how they want to be identified and seen. In
communities of people with disabilities, this shift in language continues to happen, advancing
to better suit the people within the community.

According to Ande Kolp, executive director of The Arc Maryland, the phrase “special
needs” creates a feeling of generalization, making a person feel lumped into a group, and, in
effect, not allowing the person to promote their individuality.

It’s also a euphanism. “Like when you say, ‘I didn’t fire my employee, I let them go,’ that
is softening what you did,” Kolp says. “So, people think, ‘Oh, if we call it special needs,
then people will think that it is a good thing.’ But, it amounts to a pat on the head. People
with disabilities don’t want that.”
Now it is a term the community is looking to move away from, paving a new form of
language and way of being identified.

Person-First Language
Laws such as Rosa’s Law, enacted by former President Barack Obama in 2010, are pushing
offensive terminology into the past. Named after Maryland resident Rosa Marcellino,
Rosa’s Law removed outdated words such as “retarded” from health and education code.

According to Kolp, this has allowed people with disabilities to find their voice and demand
a change in disability etiquette.

38 Washington FAMILY JULY 2020