Special Education
Word Power
People with disabilities comprise a large portion of contemporary society's population base. As such, it would greatly behoove people today to give more consideration to a host of factors that affect those that are disabled, such as the creation and implementation of proper facilities, courteous treatment, and even the language that is used to refer to them. The terminology used to refer to people who happen to have disabilities is examined in a pair of essays authored by Kathie Snow, which are entitled "The Case Against "Special Needs" and "People Language First." The author believes that by changing the language that is used to describe the disabled and the peculiarities that they need, such people will substantially benefit in virtually all aspects of their lives.
The principle thesis that exists in both essays is that the language used to categorize people with disabilities and the specific tools they use has a major impact upon them and their perception of the world. The conventional...
Snow spends a great deal of each essay deconstructing the traditional language and their negative effects they have had upon those who are disabled. The author reinforces her concepts largely through emotional appeals, such as the fact that at any point in time most people can have something happen to them that renders them as part of the disabled population set.
A number of arguments proffered by Snow in defense of her central premise are fairly intriguing -- and mostly unsubstantiated. This premise itself -- that the single biggest obstacle for disabled people to overcome is the pejorative language used to describe them and that which they need to function -- is largely unsupported, and leaves one wondering is not a form of retardation that leaves someone intellectually challenged more of a hindrance…
