Political correctness – it’s something you can’t get away from. These days you find yourself watching every word that comes out of your mouth in case you inadvertently offend someone. It’s great that we are a nation who cares about the rights and feelings of others, but it’s getting to the stage where people are afraid to speak.
I noticed this quite often when it comes to disabilities. People are terrified whenever they say the words ‘look’, ‘watch’, or ‘see’ in case they upset me. I find myself having to constantly reassure people, and of course it doesn’t help that there are so many terms to describe the same thing. Take vision impairment alone. There is visually impaired, blind, sight impaired, people with sight loss…the list goes on.
So what should you say to somebody who is visually impaired or hearing impaired or in a wheelchair? I’d say it’s a combination of using common sense but also of communicating. If you’re worried about causing offence, just ask. We’ll be more than happy to tell you which terms we prefer.
For my part, I’m not touchy when it comes to which term is applied to me, although I tend to use ‘blind’ when describing myself, since I’ve never had sight. My family and friends never walk on eggshells around me, watching every word they say. They speak normally, as do I. I use the words ‘watch’ and ‘look’ all the time. Those words are two common to be avoided. In other words, just relax.
That said, a little common sense wouldn’t go a miss. The amount of times I’ve rung tech support for one reason or another and informed them that I’m totally blind, only for them to tell me to click on the blue icon at the right hand side of the screen. I will admit sometimes I’ve felt like saying stop and think about what you just said.
Eye doctors are the worst culprits, if you can believe that. The people who really should know better are the ones who stand in front of you and waive their hand before your face and ask if you can see it. These are the people who have access to your notes, who know you’ve been blind since birth, and yet still insist on doing an eye test because it’s procedure.
The moral of this blog post is as follows. Speak normally, act normally. We’re all people, after all. However, use a bit of common sense from time to time, and if in doubt, just ask. The disabled person in question will thank you for your consideration.