Preferred terminology around disability can be difficult to navigate, especially given that even people with disabilities disagree about what is considered to be linguistically appropriate. One issue is that language intended to show respect to disabled communities has historically been based in euphemism. Consequently, well-meaning terminology can suffer from the effects of what linguist and psychologist Steven Pinker called the 'euphemism treadmill' (see video here for more on this!)
With the Paralympics taking place in August/September 2021, there was some discussion in the media about how sports fans could respectfully refer to Paralympic athletes and others with disability.
In this article, Paralympian Jason Diederich stresses the importance of using 'Olympics and Paralympics' as a collocation, in order to show equivalence between the two events and present them as equally important. This caters to the positive face needs of the Paralympic athletes and shows solidarity. Read this short excerpt from the article:
'This all came about through great leadership, and the recognition by the president of the London Games 2012, Lord Sebastian Coe, of the power of language. Watch any video of Coe in the lead up to the London Games. He rarely mentions the "Olympics" in isolation. It is always "Olympics and Paralympics".
This small change not only raised the profile of the Paralympics, but it put it on the same pedestal as the Olympics, sending a message that it was of equal importance. This helped make the Paralympics to become socially valued and was a big part of the reason why tickets to watch Paralympic events were as hard to get as those for the Olympics. It's also the reason that attitudes in the community changed towards people with disability.'
Furthermore, in preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Games, the International Paralympic Committee put out the following linguistic guidelines which were circulated by many of the athletes leading up to and during the Games. The recommendations include 'person first language'; using front-focus with the noun 'person' followed by a prepositional phrase 'with...' rather than employing adjectives like 'handicapped' or nouns 'victim' or 'cripple', which carry highly negative connotations.
However, read the excerpt from the ABC News article 'Being an ally to people with disabilities' which highlights that not all disabled people will agree with the above recommendations:
'Be aware of the language you are using
…And if it is ableist, cut it out of your vocabulary. That includes words like 'retard', 'cripple' and 'spastic' — but also phrases like "Oh, I'm so OCD" when what you mean is "Oh, I like everything to be neat."
These are words that I hear fly out of people's mouths regularly even now in 2020. Although some of these terms were once archaic medical terms used to describe those with physical and/or intellectual disabilities, they've been adopted by culture to represent slurs aimed at a person's lack of intelligence or physical control. To me, those words are hurtful.
Not every disabled person will feel that way, though. We all have our own unique relationships with language. Some people have reclaimed words like 'cripple' as terms of self-empowerment. Similarly, some prefer to use person-first language ('woman with a disability'), but others in the community have a strong preference for 'identity-first language' ('disabled woman'). It's important that non-disabled people be led by and affirm each individual person with disability's choice of language they use about themselves.'
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In September 2021, infamous shock-jock radio host Kyle Sandilands, in his usual irreverent style, provided us with a great example of what not to do. He was criticised for referring to the Paralympics as the 'Special Olympics' on air, and used the adjective 'handicapped' when referring to the athletes, along with several other comments which many saw as disrespectful.
The 'Special Olympics' are a separate event to the Paralympics, featuring athletes with intellectual disabilities. Furthermore, while it may once have been a euphemistic label for those with intellectual disabilities, the adjective 'special' has suffered the effects of the euphemism treadmill and taken on negative connotations. Sandilands' lexical choice was therefore seen as condescending, implying that the Paralympics are not equivalent. Greens Senator Jordon Steele-John labelled the remarks as 'ableist' and called for Sandilands to be fired. Read more below:
News.com.au - Calls to sack Kyle Sandilands after 'abhorrent' comments about Paralympics (published September 2021)
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