Quote:
Originally Posted by sarahsweets
I read an article the other day that I will try and find. It was about someone who has a disability and person-first language that would prefer to be identified by their disability-as in "I am disabled" or " I am autistic" vs. I am a person with autism or I am a person with a disability. She says its ok with her to have her disability entwined with who she is because to her its very much what defines her. So it got me thinking.
Sometimes I say "I have bipolar or I am bipolar". A lot of times I will say "I have adhd" or "I am adhd" . I do not think I am bothered one way or another about it. If someone said "she's bipolar" rather than she has bipolar I think I would be ok with that too. I am not bother by people wanting person-first language but I think maybe I do not understand what that means.
Can someone else chime in on what person-first language is as it pertains to disabilities and mental health disorders? What do you think about it? Are you offended if someone uses on over the other? Are you bothered by it?
I think its easy to get the nuances confused when talking about these things. I am sure I have slipped up and said something the wrong way so I am curious as to what you all think about it.
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to understand why some are offended by being defined by their mental disorder you will need to know about something called Stigmatized. you see here in america we have laws about things like this.
a person here in america are not supposed to be defined by their mental or physical disorder or their race or gender...
their gender, race, physical or mental handicap can not enter into whether they can or cant do things...
example I have dissociative disorders. but dissociative disorders does not define me (who and what I am and whether or not I can be hired or fired from jobs, whether I can attend community events or enjoy a public movie, go out to dinner.....)
let me show you the difference....
if I said to someone I have a dissociative disorder. its like saying I have a cold or drat it all I have a head ache...
now put the same sentence into I am
I am a headache
I am a cold virus
I am a dissociation disorder
the first paragraph is saying I have these problems that can be worked on
the second paragraph is saying more negative things about myself. .....
I am a headache means Im a pain in someones behind or a trouble maker, I am a cold virus means Im going to bring down everything around me and I am a dissociation disorder means I will always and forever be unpredictable, triggered, upset, numb, spaced out, people better stay away.
its like talking about being native american. I can call myself a sqaw or I can say my cultural background is native american.
its like calling one self stupid versus saying my education is this or that.
or saying I am a retard vs saying I have learning disorders.
mostly its a personal preference but there are laws around this thing called stigmatizing one self and others.
here in america we have laws saying a person is not defined by their race, gender nor handicaps. we have special laws and services to ensure people with race, gender, physical and mental handicapped are not treated as if all they are is their race gender or physical/ mental handicaps.
my suggestion is check with your own locations laws and such to see where things stand on this issue and go according to your own laws and personal preferences.