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From: Karen Hollett
Date: 06 Oct 2010
Time: 20:03:19 -0500
Remote Name: 216.108.183.247
Hi Pam, I agree wholeheartedly with everyone's right to chose how they identify in this regard (and in most aspects of life). I do think that part of the reticence to identify, at least with some, is the term "disabled". Disabled suggests that the whole person is not working. However, having "a disability(s)" is a more accurate term for most people who have disabilities since they may have one or several disabilities but have boatloads of abilities. "person with a disability" is more accurate and carries less stigma. I am not disabled....but I do consider myself a person with a disability. If we consider fluency to be the typical state of being, then a pws (at least one like me) has a disability - I don't have the ability to speak fluently. That doesn't mean that I can't be a good communicator or that I can't live a full life. I think there is an important distinction between the disability and the effect that the disability has on your life. I personally would hope that more pws identify as being a pwd....it's our role(in my opinion) to communicate that "disability" is not a negative term/thing....just like "stuttering" should not be viewed negatively. Having said all this, I really do believe in personal choice here. I wouldn't want someone looking down on me for, say, avoiding the telephone on a bad day....and likewise, despite my opinion on the pwd thing, I understand someone taking the opposite stance. K