Children are a heritage from the Lord...
Psalm 127:3
David Perry, a history professor in Illinois, has written a wonderful article for CNN regarding labeling children with Down syndrome. Much discussion toward the end of the political campaign was prompted by Ann Coulter's use of the label "retard" applied to President Obama. She was roundly criticized for using a term that should have fallen from our word usage ages ago. Mr. Perry makes the case that such labels dehumanize the individuals who have disabilities, citing a different word that people often use for his son (who has Down Syndrome) that he feels is just as inappropriate as "retard."
When I was a child, the term for someone with Down's was mongoloid idiot. Physicians began replacing that term with "retarded" or "retardation," a shift in language that brought better understanding of the people afflicted with this condition. During my teaching years, the language changed to developmental disabled or developmentally delayed which continued to bring changes in understanding and attitudes.
Perry, however, brings up the fact that somewhere along the line, some people began to call children with Down's "little angels." Individuals have said to him regarding his son, "Downs kids are God's angels sent down to earth." He rejects that label equally with "retard." He says: "Symbols, labels and representations -- in media, literature and our daily conversations -- shape reality. The words "retard" and "angel" represent images that dehumanize and disempower. Both words connote two-dimensional, simple or limited people. Neither angels nor retards can live in the world with the rest of us, except as pets, charity cases or abstract sources of inspiration."
Children and adults with disabilities are first and foremost human beings - just like you and just like me - only with a vastly different set of challenges. There are hundreds of other syndromes just as difficult as Down's - thousands of people across this planet that deserve to be treated as one of us and incorporated fully into the fabric of society and culture. And when a cruel or inappropriate word pops up in our mental consciousness, let's be sure it does not make it past our lips.
Don't Label People with Down Syndrome by David M. Perry, Special to CNN, November 17, 2012
No comments:
Post a Comment