Reclaiming Language
Watch: Dr. Harvey Chochinov, Canada Research Chair in Palliative Care, Rhonda Wiebe, JIm Derksen, Catherine Frazee, and other Disability Rights Activists in conjunction with the Manitoba Vulnerable Persons Network, has released a Youtube “teaser” for their latest video project on “Reclaiming Language”. It demonstrates how clearly the language we use effects the way we see each other and most especially people with disabilities. Rhonda Wiebe states…”People are not vulnerable, they are made vulnerable”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Pcx_NJxBug&feature=share
Which brings to mind the ongoing paradox of the medical model versus the social model of disability. This article written by GimpGirl Community does the best job I’ve seen of describing the perils of ascribing to a distinctly medical model, not the least of which is the proliferation of language like, “suffers from”, “victim of”, “vulnerable”, “pity”, and a host of other non-people first and isolating terms.
Nice work VP Net.
After all as George Orwell put it…”But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.”
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