What’s In a Word?: Symbolic Interactionist Take on Language in Disability Culture

I want to start by saying thank you for the support and I want to apologize for not writing for a little bit. 

Today, I am blessed to get explain and explore the words we use as disabled people from a theoretical framework. 

Before we begin we first need to define a couple of things the first is interactionism. Interactionist scholars believe that the meaning of self is derived and produced through interactions with the world and other people. So to put in a five-word answer one’s worldview is shaped by interaction. To me, interactionism is the basis of all sociology without interactionism we don’t have science and I would have  saved myself and my parents thousands of dollars with not having to go to school. With that being said I think that we have an even better explanation of micro-sociology in the disability scope and that is with the power of symbolic interactionism. Symbolic interactionism is defined as a theory that human interaction and communication is facilitated by words, gestures, and other symbols that have acquired conventionalized meanings. This is saying that we as humans can have our lives be defined by a few symbols and by words in which we speak. The easiest example to give is the Idea of the wedding ring. We as humans in our constructed culture have attached the idea of commitment to a gold circle that we wear on our left hands. 

Full disclosure I am by definition a symbolic interactionist. I have subscribed to this school of thought. 

Today, I want to frame our conversation around the part of the definition of symbolic interactionism. The language part of the definition that words carry weight. Word choice is either passive or intentional that goes without saying. What does bear mentioning in this conversation is that not everyone is going to agree with me and it is always better to ask than to just assume you are doing the right thing because you read my blog and this what I just prefer. 

To fully grasp this topic of how to address people with disabilities or disabled people we have to go back in time and sit through a mini-history lesson. Let’s start by examining the origins of the word handicap. This word is pretty much out of the modern lexicon in typical situations unless it pertains to parking. However, this term planted its roots during the reign of Henry VII reign over England when disabled military veterans would panhandle with their military-issued hats to earn a living garnering the nickname handicapped. This term stayed as the preferred nomenclature till the early 1980s when the term disabled took a foothold in international vernacular. 

I can say that I like the term it's straightforward and professional. It worked as we passed the Americans With Disabilities Act and truly began a campaign of visibility. Then the new Millennium rolled around and everything changed, a new wave of disability advocates called the second wave or the millennial movement came up with the idea that the term disabled should no longer be politically correct. This is just plain silly for a multitude of reasons beginning with the phrase that was chosen to replace the term disabled. The phrase was 'differently able' as a symbolic interactionist this makes my head spin, the term 'differently able' does not stand out because everyone has different abilities it does not carry any weight behind it. It is a cop-out and feeds into the need for us as people with disabilities to adjust to the mainstreaming of typicality in an inherently ableist society. Instead of standing out and fighting against the people who doubt you, you are catering to their will. Wanting to be them instead of owning the truth that there are simply things that you just can't do. Disabled is not a bad word it is playing into the hands of the political correctness police in an ableist society.

The one thing that the second wave did get right is the idea of person-first language meaning that instead of saying I am a disabled person I am a person with a disability. This is important because it makes society see me as a person not just my wheelchair or cane but never call me differently-abled. That is dumb. 

I hope you learned something and as always stay safe and God Bless.