WHAT DO YOU SAY TO SOMEONE WITH A DISABILITY?

 

The first step in interacting with students with disabilities seems obvious; treat them as you would any other student.  Students with disabilities come to the College for the same reasons others do. They bring with them the same range of backgrounds, intelligence, and academic skills.  The following information is offered as a guide for use in everyday situations:

 

RECEPTION ETIQUETTE

 

•                     When introduced to a person with a disability, it is appropriate to offer to shake hands. People with limited hand use or those who wear an artificial limb can usually shake hands. Shaking hands with the left hand is an acceptable greeting.

 

•                     Treat adults as adults.  Never patronize people using wheelchairs by patting them on the head or shoulder.

 

•                     When addressing a person who uses a wheelchair, never lean on the person’s wheelchair. The chair is a part of the body space of the person who uses it.

 

•                     When talking to a person who has a disability, look at and speak directly to that person, rather than through a companion who may be along.

 

•                     If a deaf interpreter is present, speak to the person who has come to see you, not to the interpreter.  Maintain eye contact with your visitor, not the interpreter.

 

•                     Offer assistance with sensitivity and respect.  If the offer to assist is declined, do not insist. If the offer is accepted, listen to, or ask for instructions (e.g. allow a person with a visual impairment to take your arm at or above the elbow so that you can guide rather than propel the person).

 

CONVERSATION ETIQUETTE

 

•                     Relax.  Don’t be embarrassed if you happen to use common expressions such as “See you later,” or “Got to be running along” that seem to relate to the person’s disability.  People who are visually/mobility impaired use these expressions.

 

•                     To get the attention of a person with a hearing loss, tap the person on the shoulder or wave your hand.  Look directly at the person and speak clearly and slowly.  Show consideration by placing yourself facing the light source and keeping your hands away from your mouth when speaking.  Keep mustaches will trimmed.  Shouting won’t help, and it may lessen the person’s ability to understand.  Written notes are fine for short conversations.

 

•                     Always remember to not make a judgment.  Even a comment meant as supportive or caring can have a negative impact.  For example, avoid saying, “You don’t look dyslexic.”  A student once said, “So how am I supposed to look?  Have a sign on my forehead?”

 

•                     When talking with a person in a wheelchair for more than a few minutes, sit down in order to place yourself at the person’s eye level.

•                     When greeting a person with severe loss of vision, always identity yourself and others who may be with you.  Speak in a normal tone of voice; indicate in advance when you will be moving from one place to another, and let it be known when the conversation is at an end.  If another person enters the space where you are conversing, identify the other person if they’ve already met or introduce them.

 

•                     Listen attentively when talking with a person who has a speech impairment.  Keep your manner encouraging rather than correcting.  When necessary, ask short questions that require short answers.  Never pretend to understand if you are having difficulty doing so. Repeat what you understand.  The person’s reactions will guide you to understand.

 

 

Don’t Say:

 

Handicap, handicapped

 

 

 

Victim of or afflicted with a stroke, polio, muscular dystrophy, etc.

 

Wheelchair-bound or confined to a wheelchair

 

 

Deaf and Dumb

 

 

 

 

Normal, healthy (when used as the opposite of disabled)

 

The deaf.  The visually impaired.  The disabled.

 

Spastic, Mongoloid, crazy, deformed, defective, crippled.  These words are offensive, degrading, dehumanizing, and stigmatizing. 

 

 

 

Say:

 

Disability, or  person with a disability, or challenged.  Emphasize the person, not the disability. 

 

Person who has multiple sclerosis or person who has had a spinal cord injury

 

Person who uses a wheelchair.  Most people who use a wheelchair do not regard them as confining.  They are viewed as liberating.

 

Person who is deaf, hearing impaired or hard of hearing.  Most deaf individuals are capable of speech.  An inability to hear or speak does not indicate lowered intelligence.

 

Non-disabled

 

 

Person who is deaf, etc.  State the person or individual before the disability.

 

When it is appropriate to refer to an individual’s disability, choose the correct terminology for specific disability.  Use terms such as cerebral palsy, Down’s Syndrome, mental illness, spina bifida, quadriplegia, seizure disorder, speech impairment or specific learning disability.

Say, “a person diagnosed with cerebral palsy.”