Stop Using Negative Labels to Categorize People with Different Abilities

Sticks and Stones Will Break My Bones but Words Will Never Harm Me is an old saying that parents, and adults used to try to teach children - not to do things which will hurt other. Too bad they don't take a drink from their medicine because some of these labels do far more damage to the individual than anything that a child will say. Children use words to get back at others. However, adults, those with disabilities, use words to label others who are different from the norm. Unfortunately, the labels tend to carry negative connotations, and these connotations may injure the labeled individual throughout his/her life. Such labels may even prevent the labeled individual from reaching the desired goal of self reliance or productivity. Lastly, these unnecessary labels may condemn those who are so labeled to a life of dependency upon some type of Governmental aid.

Here are just a few negative words which adults use to label the disabled as being different. They may label the person, depending on their disabilities, as being dyslexic, learning impaired, hearing impaired, Epileptic, as having Attention Deficits, as having Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, as being Mentally Retarded or being Mentally ill, or as having a Traumatic Brain Injury.

All these labels appear to be negative instead of positive. All tend to label the person as somehow being bad because of a specific inability. If the person is labeled- disabled- then it may be falsely assumed that they are not capable of productive employment. How many disabling conditions so disable the individual that they can not be helped to learn some skill which will enable them to become productive tax payers?

So you see the old saying, Sticks and Stones Will Break my Bones but Words Will Never Harm me, does not apply to adults because their labels may mark and injure an individual for a lifetime.

If the non-disabled have inadvertently injured an individual by labeling them; how can they expect them to become productive? If these labels prevent the labeled person from enjoying a life of productivity, how can the non-disabled expect the labeled individual to cease being dependent upon Governmental aid, subsidies, or entitlements?

The non-disabled could help the disabled if they would cease labeling us as being disabled before we have a chance to prove that we can do well usings which they tell us we are not able to do by their infernal labels.

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