Monday, May 11, 1998
Taking the ‘dis’ out of disabled
PEOPLE: Daily Bruin writer
Jena Coghlan addresses the ins and outs of
disability etiquette
By Jena Coghlan
Daily Bruin Contributor
Disability – it’s hard not to think you’ll get something wrong
when addressing the issue. The state of it is still so ambiguous.
There’s a lot of problems just getting over the initial name.
There’s "physically challenged," denounced for its negative
connotation by the disability community. They say, aren’t all human
beings – disabled or not – challenged? Then there is "handicapped,"
the term that originated from a beggar who sat in the street with a
cap in his hand. This is hardly liberating.
Disabled people are like all other people, some do beg, others
run multi-million dollar corporations. I personally don’t mind
handicapped. My parents use it, but then they’re avid golfers and a
handicap is a good thing. "Wheelchair bound" is another. The
conflict here is reality, can one really be "bound" to a
wheelchair? No, like the word "confined," people do not live their
lives all day long in a wheelchair. They get out, stretch on the
bed, and take showers (sometimes in a wheelchair that is
water-resistant). You can even say that being "in" a wheelchair is
terminologically wrong, because how can somebody be "in" a
wheelchair?
Don’t let the fear of making a politically incorrect statement
hold you back from approaching a person with a disability.
However, there are politically incorrect names that should be
avoided unless the person uses it themselves affectionately.
"Cripple" is a good example. Though I often hear people with
disabilities call themselves a "crip." Another is "gimp". Gimp
means someone who is lame, which is basically true of a wheelchair
user. The legs or arms, sometimes both, are weak, and you slide and
shift about when traveling over bumpy terrain. Because you sit,
you’re a lot shorter than most people, and therefore you feel
gimpy.
It makes sense when I feel this way. Lame and gimpy: when I am
reaching something atop a shelf, people seem to be watching, see
that I am having a tough time, and do not ask me if I could use
some help. Lame and gimpy: when I have a lot of books on my lap and
need to open the door and struggle, struggle so much that my
wheelchair tips back and I almost fall over. It is only sometimes
that I describe myself in this way. A close friend might get away
with calling me a gimp or a crip, but the general public should
hold back these words. If you know a lot about disability, and a I
mean a lot, then you may have your own style or preference to be
called by, but for the most part, the general public knows so
little about disability and its culture and lifestyle that it is
not cool to say something ignorant. After all, what goes around
comes around. Use what makes you feel comfortable, than ask them
what they prefer.
People who are disabled have only recently been integrated into
mainstream society. Historically, people who had disabilities were
placed in the back room. They were "shut-ins," and that was all
they could hope for. There were no ramps or alternative
transportation available. Society looked down on disability as
negative, that the person was not a full human being. When strong
negative stereotypes begin to breed into the consciousness of the
people, it is very hard to dispel these myths when they are so
warped into the fabric of culture.
Whether in America, Europe or Asia, stereotypes about disability
exist, it’s just not until now that most people are realizing how
wrong they are. Which equates to a pretty big problem. People
really were relegated to the back bedrooms. They were thought to
not be capable, to lack some inherent intuition because their
bodies didn’t look like everyone else’s.
Today, after several civil rights movements in the 1970s, and
the Americans With Disabilities Act passed in 1990, the future for
people with disabilities is looking up. My concern is that people
think they "solved" the problem with architectural access.
Disability is multi-faceted; it includes emotional, scientific,
social, physical and racial characteristics. In short, it is a
human problem.
With the advancement of technology and science, there is hope
that many disabilities will someday be prevented. Disabilities can
happen to anyone, i.e. Christopher Reeve with spinal cord injury,
Richard Pryor with Multiple Sclerosis, Susan Fortney with Spina
Bifida and John Kemp as an amputee. Who knows when a cure will come
– how could society ask people who have disabilities to wait until
that day? It is no longer possible to ask. Before, they hid them
away out of embarrassment and shame, and other complex emotions
associated with disability.
A lot of society’s problems with the disabled are felt most
significantly by those who have them. Stereotypes – once past them,
the expectation is to be and feel "like" everyone else. People with
disabilities feel the confusion – the loss – in their hearts. The
problem really hits the fan when a person with a disability feels
oppressed, meaning that they do not feel their points of view are
being represented. And the worst is that many of these people just
drop out of school, settle for government checks and never feel
accepted, nor do they accept themselves.
On the other hand, people likely to succeed are those who know
how to speak up, to voice their opinions; it is that basic need to
express. Voicing means equal treatment. Individuals treat people
with disabilities the only way they know how. Sometimes that comes
across as pity, or horrific alienation; sometimes it’s a positive
note. The bottom line is that your perspective on life changes when
you endure a permanently disabled existence.
People with disabilities are highly evolved in some form. I will
testify that the shock of knowing you will be physically different,
before an accident or after a prognosis, gives you an abundant
amount of brain stimulation to sit and ponder the hard-core
realities that life puts forth.
Life is sometimes enlightening to know both sides, the one when
I walked and the one where I don’t. I hear opinions that cover a
wide range of myths and stereotypes, from totally ignorant to
exaggerated, false or dead-on.
The fact is, people with disabilities are subjected to a unique
lifestyle. They begin to either love it or hate it. It becomes a
part of who they are. Talk about patience (physically and
socially), and a perspective into what perseverance and
determination really look and feel like. In this way, people with
disabilities make excellent educators and human right activists.
What I’ve learned from my spinal cord injury is to be my own best
friend. No expectations, I say, like I can not depend on the guy
from class to call me, I can not depend that science will invent a
cure in the next five years. Although, both would be ideal.