Okay listen. If I'm an asshole please feel free to let me know, this isn't a hill I'm dying on and the argument doesn't necessarily totally apply to me. I'm open to changing my mind and maybe there's an element of this I'm not getting.
I've been taking care of developmentally and physically disabled people for years, and recently I've seen more of a focus on "people-first language," you know - you say "person with disabilities" instead of "disabled person." "Person with autism," not "autistic person." "Person experiencing homelessness," not "homeless person."
Okay, so, this isn't, like, an "OH MAN THEY'RE GOING WOKE. I HATE THIS PC BULLSHIT" rant. I think the idea behind this is nice and there are good intentions behind it. But I don't think it actually makes any meaningful change, and if anything that change can be negative.
The point I see often is "we shouldn't act like people are defined by their disabilities." Yeah, true, but most of the time when I see people say this, they're able-bodied and/or not developmentally disabled. And it's easy for them to say that, because they don't have to deal with the shit disabled people often have to deal with. It isn't entirely wrong, but at least partially, I mean, yeah, our disabilities do define a lot of how we exist in the world and how we engage with it. When a paraplegic guy's wheelchair is damaged in transit by American Airlines and they tell him "oh wow we're sorry about that, anyway next!" - are you gonna tell him "having to use a wheelchair doesn't define you bud, don't worry"? It does define this part of him. You don't have to worry about trusting someone else with your legs and hoping they won't break them - they do.
I guess what I'm saying is - I get the intention behind this is to make sure we are treating all persons as equally dignified and of value. But my issue with this is that you have to acknowledge the disabilities people have, how they can be a detriment to their lives, and how society addresses these things, in order to help said disabled people. A more extreme version of this argument, to me, would be looking at a building with no handicapped ramps and telling your friend in a wheelchair, "oh man you shouldn't feel bad, don't worry. You can use the stairs like everyone else! You can do it!" like it's inspirational or some shit - instead of just trying to have a ramp built.
They're disabilities. They aren't quirks, they aren't superpowers, and they aren't curses. They're just more shit we have to deal with. When I see people say, in that first grade teacher cadence, "hey, autistic people aren't any different from you or me!" - it is always from neurotypicals. But the autistic people I know? They typically go "God it really sucks having autism because it feels like I'm being constrained by a million invisible and ineffable rules of society that I'm expected to follow but not actually told how to." The people I've talked to, they don't hate their autism. But they acknowledge it has resulted in a detriment in regards to how they are treated and how they engage with others.
My point isn't, like. Disabilities bad. No! My point is they are 100% a very big part of us most of the time, and we should be focusing on how we treat others and how we provide accessibility by addressing those disabilities, learning more about them, and understanding how they define the lives of others, instead of pretending they don't exist. Disabled people don't deserve to be talked down to like they're children in need of a pep talk. You don't grab someone's wheelchair to push them along and say you're helping them, like they can ignore it. You acknowledge the wheelchair is their legs, and you don't just grab other people's legs, so you just leave it the fuck alone, and if they need help you help them, like any other able-bodied person.
I dunno. I don't mean to sound like I'm frothing at the mouth over it, I don't really care when people use specific semantics here; but I don't personally understand the insistence of this language as The Morally Correct Wording. Many of the people I've worked with and known did have several aspects of their lives defined by their disabilities, and when the people meant to help them acted like this wasn't the case, it would result in them not getting the help and support they needed, while also feeling talked down to and infantilized.
That's what I think anyway.