Naming and Labelling

 Naming and Labelling

 

A disability label can have several effects: Disability labels affect how people are towards disabled people because of how disabled people may present themselves without meaning to. For example, someone having a speech problem.

×  Dyslexia causes reading, writing and spelling difficulties.

× Most people think people with Dyslexia cannot read, write and spell at all.

× Dyslexia also affects people’s memory and how they understand things.

× They may not remember what they have read, what happened in a program they may have watched on TV, or what someone may have said.

 

 

Area  What it can influence

Perception How other people understand the person's abilities and needs

Value Whether the person is treated with dignity and respect

Relationships How family, teachers, employers, professionals, and peers interact with them

Expectations: What others believe the person can or cannot accomplish

Opportunities: Whether someone is included or excluded from education, employment, activities, and community life

⚠️ Some words used to describe people with disabilities are disliked or rejected because they can be dehumanising, insulting, outdated, or associated with discrimination and bullying.

 

Examples include:

 

Handicap

Cripple

“Mentally retarded” — now widely considered outdated and offensive when referring to people with intellectual disabilities.

 

The problem is not simply the individual word. The way a word is used and the attitudes behind it also matter.

 

People with disabilities may feel negative labels:

 

Make them feel less human or less valued.

Cause other people to focus on their difficulties rather than their strengths.

Create assumptions about what they can or cannot do.

Make them feel that other people see the diagnosis or disability before seeing the person.

Reinforce stigma, discrimination, and bullying.

Strengths and difficulties

 

An important point is that everyone has both strengths and difficulties, although these are different for every person.

 

Having a disability does not mean that someone has no strengths. A person may need significant support in one area while having considerable strengths in another.

 

For example:

 

A person might have difficulty with reading but be very good at explaining ideas verbally.

 

or:

 

A person might need physical assistance but have excellent knowledge, creativity, humour, or problem-solving skills.

 

Therefore, professionals should use a strengths-based approach rather than seeing someone only in terms of their difficulties.

 

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 The connection with bullying

 

Negative labels can also contribute to bullying. When society repeatedly uses disability-related words as insults or jokes, it can reinforce the idea that disability is something inferior or shameful.

 

This can affect people:

 

language → attitudes → expectations → behavior → inclusion

The reasons can be very varied. A child might be targeted because they are perceived as:

 

Poor or wealthy compared with other children.

More or less academically able than their peers.

Different in appearance, interests, personality, communication, or behaviours.

From a particular family or social background.

Experiencing difficulties at home, although this should never be assumed to be the reason someone bullies another person.

 

It's also important to avoid suggesting that everyone who experiences these circumstances will become a bully or a victim of bullying. Children respond to difficult family circumstances, poverty, conflict, abuse, or social differences in very different ways.

 

Connecting this to disability

 

For disability, the same principle applies. A child may be bullied because other children perceive them as different, perhaps because of a disability, communication style, physical appearance, learning difficulty, or need for additional support.

 

But the responsibility belongs with bullying behaviours, not with the different child.

 

This fits nicely with your section on labelling:

 

When people attach negative labels and stereotypes to someone, those labels can influence how others treat that person.

 

And that's why respectful language and inclusive attitudes matter from childhood onward. They can help children learn that having differences does not make someone less valuable, less capable, or less deserving of respect.

 

So the goal of respectful disability language isn't just to find a "nicer word." It is about recognising the person's humanity, strengths, rights, and individuality rather than reducing them to a label.

 

 

 

The problem isn't necessarily having a diagnostic label. A diagnosis can be extremely useful.

 

The problem occurs when people reduce the person to the label.

 

For example:

 

"She has dyslexia and needs accessible reading materials."

 

Recognises a particular support need.

 

But:

 

"She's dyslexic, so she won't be able to do this."

 

turns the label into an assumption about the person's abilities.

 

That's an important distinction because a diagnosis does not tell us everything about an individual. Two people with the same diagnosis can have very different strengths, difficulties, communication styles, support needs, and life experiences.

 

👤 Person vs. label

 

A useful principle for this module is:

 

The person comes first in terms of their humanity; the diagnostic label describes one aspect of their life.

 

This also connects directly with the social model of disability. If society attaches stereotypes and negative expectations to a label, those attitudes can themselves become disabling barriers.

 

And person-first versus identity-first language is a little more complicated than simply saying one is "right" and the other is "wrong." Individual preference matters, and different disability communities have developed different preferences around language.