Article archive / March 1, 2014
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 7. Source pages: 6.
House Bill 63 calls for reforms in the words used to describe and refer to those with disabilities.
Authored by Representative Walt Leger, HB 63 notes that the proposed law revises terminology in present law referring to persons with disabilities and other persons with exceptionalities by deleting and making substitutions for obsolete, derogatory, or offensive terms.
The proposed law notes the linguistic paradigm known as "person first language", which emphasizes a person's humanity over any condition or characteristic the person may have, to be employed wherever possible to refer to persons with disabilities and other persons with exceptionalities.
If passed, the measure would call for changes in the names of agencies, institutions, private organizations, and other entities. Also, it would cause references to offices, bureaus, and other subdivisions of state agencies and to programs and services that have otherwise been repealed or no longer exist, to be removed.
The digest notes a legislative finding that language used to refer to persons with disabilities and other persons with exceptionalities shapes and reflects attitudes toward and perceptions of such persons by society.
Examples of changes include: "intellectual disability" means any condition formerly referred to as "mental retardation;" "disability" as used to describe a condition or characteristic of a person, has the meaning of the former term "handicap;" references to a "person with a physical disability" and a "person with a disability", as appropriate to the context, mean a person formerly referred to as "physically handicapped", a "handicapped person,” "the handicapped", a "crippled person", a "disabled person", or "the disabled.”
For purposes of proposed law, references to a person who "acquires a disability" would have the meaning of the former term, a person who "becomes disabled".
Terms of "accessible" and "accessibility" have the meanings, respectively, of the former terms "handicapped accessible" and "handicapped accessibility". And, a "person with mental illness" means a person formerly referred to as either "the mentally ill" or a "mentally ill person.”
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