Sober now from Mayday. Can't believe how few teachers know any history to this day - 5/1. One of my favorite days.
Sober now cause I got called on my shit today.
It has been a bit of a struggle to master the people first language necessary in this field. I ocasionaly slip up. He has MS or the girl in the wheelchair, that sort of thing. I know better and understand the value of it. Just fuck up on occasion.
I know how much labels suck. Who wants to be the girl in the wheelchair. Defined by it. The "autistic kid", you know, sounds close to "that retard" coming from some peoples' buccal cavities.
In the real world we speak - always straining for the easiest way to say something quickly, unthinkingly in my case. In medicine, at least in the hospitals, patients are almost always referred to disease first, as they say, e.g., the stage four lung cancer in room 3 or the craniotomy waiting for a bed.
So there I was talking to a shining light in this world. A para who kicks more ass in the classroom than almost any teacher I have EVER seen. We are talking casually about a prospective student coming for a preliminary visit to our school.
(She and I have a casual relationship, we tell each other to fuck off when necessary, so I don't expect her to ever pull her punches. We are certainly not PC. I firmly believe that you have to laugh as often as possible, especially in this field. There is precious little that I can't laugh at, if it's funny.)
She caught me as I referred to the student as a TBI. I wasn't thinking, I just didn't want to say traumatic brain injury out loud. Obviously the student isn't just TBI. I'm not gonna defend nor attack my statement. It was unthinking.
To me, that's the worst thing about it. It was without thinking.
I had nothing else to go on and was talking through what I had said. It was the one time I had my card pulled and am happy with it. I've thought more about this people first language more than ever before. It and E-Prime both force you to think in new ways about the world of special education & how we relate to it.
Kathie Snow says:
Who are the so-called "handicapped" or "disabled"?
According to stereotypical perceptions, they are:
People who suffer from the tragedy of birth defects.
Paraplegic heroes who struggle to become normal again.
Victims who fight to overcome their challenges.
Categorically, they are called retarded, autistic, blind,
deaf, learning disabled, etc., etc., etc. --- ad nauseam!
Who are they, really?
Moms and Dads. . . Sons and Daughters . . . Employees and Employers
Friends and Neighbors . . . Students and Teachers. . . Leaders and Followers
Scientists, Doctors, Actors, Punks, Presidents, and More
They are people.
They are people, first.
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