News Release
NCD #99-269
June 7, 1999
Contact: Mark S. Quigley
202-272-2004
202-272-2074 TTY
mquigley@ncd.gov
Open Letter to Editors on White House Conference
on Mental Health (WHCMH) at Washington, DC
As the White House Conference on Mental Health (WHCMH)
gets under way in Washington, DC, and as we approach the ninth anniversary
of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the
National Council on Disability (NCD) is providing advice for reporters
covering these significant events.
For centuries, people with disabilities have been
subjected to stereotyping and dehumanization through the language
used to describe them. Although some progress has been made in this
century to shed labels such as "crippled," "feebleminded," "deaf
and dumb," etc., it is still, unfortunately, the case that people
who happen to have a disability are seen as disabled first and as
a person second. It is this type of stereotyping that reinforces
the continued isolation, segregation, and stigmatization of people
with disabilities, even nine years after the passage of ADA.
It should be remembered that in enacting ADA, Congress
consciously chose to refer to people with disabilities as "Americans"
first. Disability, particularly in a country in which there is an
Americans with Disabilities Act, need not define one's identity.
As we report on the WHCMH and as we approach the ninth anniversary
of this historic Act's enactment, let us remember to "put people
first."
We can say...people with disabilities, instead of
the disabled, the handicapped.
We can say...people with cerebral palsy, instead of
cerebral palsy victims.
We can say...people with mental illness, instead of
the mentally ill.
We can say...person with schizophrenia, instead of
schizophrenic.
We can say...people with mental retardation, instead
of those suffering from mental retardation.
We can say...person who uses a wheelchair or person
in a wheelchair, instead of a wheelchair-bound patient or person
confined to a wheelchair.
When we begin to use language in a manner that truly
respects the subjects as people first, our language will help move
us toward fulfilling the promises of the Americans with Disabilities
Act.
In its 1986 report Toward Independence, NCD first
proposed that Congress should enact a civil rights law for people
with disabilities. In 1990, ADA was signed into law. NCD is an independent
federal agency currently coordinating a multi-year study on the
enforcement and implementation of ADA and other civil rights laws.
Visit NCD's award-winning Web site (http://www.ncd.gov)
for more information.
|
