Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Person First, Everything Else Can Wait
One of the things that we have been discussing in class this week while examining literature inclusive to people with disibilites is person first speech. I came upon this concept during my freshman year at MSU and it made complete sense to me and helped me to know proper terminology in more than adressing persons with disabilities. No human being wants to be identified as anyone but themselves. I want to be me first with all of the other information later. I am not the brunette teacher candidate, I am Maggie, i happen to be brunette and studying education, but it doesn't define me. In this same way no one should be a race, sex, or disability before who they are. It might be a part of how they define themselves or tehir world experience but it is not before ho they are. The language so often used that identifies a trait or a minority group before the person is offensive not only to that specific person but to all those who hear it. I am very glad to know that this issue is becoming prevalent today and its becoming compeltely required in our society to use person first language.
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1 comment:
I totally understand where you are coming from. It is hard to not make assumptions about a persons identity by what they look like.
When looking at a person with a disability or of a different race, or gender, we believe that we know what they are like and how they will act.
In a classroom it is so important to remember that each student is different and should be treated as individuals who all have different needs
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