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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 508
addict
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addict
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 508 |
(nurse nancy, perhaps?).Nope. But it's amazing what one can pick up writing and editing hospital newsletters  .
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
A friend of mine has been handicapped since childhood and he refers to himself as such. The people he knows also refer to themselves as such (yes I asked him).
I understand what people are trying to do...by taking away the word to which a certain stigma is attached people hope the stigma will be erased...but it doesn't work that way.
Now that I find interesting.
I am deaf in my left ear. (childhood scarlet fever.)
I am not hard-of-hearing, I am deaf in one ear.
So I have a disability.
I refuse to let my disability be a handicap.
In my youth I studied music and did concert work. Always right on pitch, too!
As a reporter I had a reputation for *the *most *accurate quotes and on several occasions my accuracy was tested by making tapes. I was spot on. So there! (ranting on ...) (Probably because I paid attention!)
My disability is annoying sometimes and inconvenient sometimes too, but *not a handicap.
Deafness is sometimes called "the silent disability" or "the unseen disability." You'll note, not handicap!
OED says (4th) a handicap is an encumberance or hinderance.
OED says disability is a lack of the ability to do something.
My deafness is an inability to hear in my left ear.
So I have a disability, not a handicap because I don't let it be!
(/rant & /rave)
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
But Wow, it is precisely the vehemence that you show that has made the word handicapped politically incorrect.
I am also deaf in one ear (bobbypin in my left ear when I was a toddler) and it is a disadvantage. You work around it and it does not affect your life but it would be a lie to say it is not there.
For example, when hunting for wood grouse it is important to listen for the soft thrumming they do. If it is on my left side I do not hear it because it is too soft to register in my other ear on the other side of my head. When locating/pinpointing something by sound only it is easier when you hear from both ears. I am not making it up it is a fact of biology and the reason why creatures have ears on both sides of the head.
The fact that you are a great musician does not negate the fact that you had to assimilate the music in only one ear. You do not know if you would have had an easier time of it if you had both ears since you only worked with the one.
What I am getting at is that handicapped came to have such a negative connotation that people switched over to the word disabled. Now, THAT word has a negative connotation and people have switched over to differently abled. We hear that term all the time.
Disabled has now become the politically incorrectly way of describing someone who is at some disadvantage.
I think that we should work on getting people to treat everybody with respect and true courtesy no matter what they look like or whether they have the use of all their appendeges, senses et all. Instead we focus on the words describing the state the person is in. As if changing the word will make people change their attitude.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661 |
Yet, CapK's recent usage of "___ challenged" is a bit more widespread and less disheartening (for me) than "differently abled"... aside from the fact that "dis-ing" anyone is not a "good" idea.
bel - Kinda makes me want to grow a third ear.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Kinda makes me want to grow a third ear.
Dear Heart, you already have one, and have had for years, if I'm not mistaken. Your hearing is different from most
peoples'. Inside and out. Love.
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
Dear belM - another thing we have in common. How nice! You are right about sounds ... I always turn right, first, to locate a sound. And it is annoying sometimes ... I got those fancy hearing aids that let me hear the sounds as if I had two good ears and the noise was, well, deafening! Had to give them back! I was not a "great musician" (thank you for the compliment) but a better than average one I flatter myself. I think that we should work on getting people to treat everybody with respect and true courtesy no matter what they look like or whether they have the use of all their appendeges, senses et all. Instead we focus on the words describing the state the person is in. As if changing the word will make people change their attitude. Couldn't agree more heartily. And I am sorry I ranted on so opinionatedly. (sigh-e) Please forgive the dogmatic obstinancy which I recognize now but didn't at the time I wrote the post. I listen and learn. Aloha, wow.
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
I got those fancy hearing aids that let me hear the sounds as if I had two good ears
I didn't know those existed. Actually, I really can't complain. The only time it is a hassle is when I am in a meeting with loads of people and a 'soft-speaker' sits on my left. Then I have to "look" at what she is saying. Ooof, is that last sentence understandable?
BACK TO ORIGINAL THREAD DIRECTION...
I am presently reading Silas Marner by George Eliot in the 1800's. At one point a person goes out to sell a horse and his brother says he is gone to get the scratch to mean the money. He didn't mean it to break even though.
And, no I don't think I'd recommend the book. It is not a bad story but man, can that woman write run-on sentences. Sometimes a sentence can take up to half a page and veer to so many different subjects that you don't know what she is trying to say. Some I've had to reread several times.
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