How to Avoid Offending Persons with Disabilities with Words

As a person with a disability, I would like to put my 2 cents worth in for all it's worth. My disability is not one that is noticeable until you see me walking around. I have DDD, rheumatoid arthritis, and some disease of the SI joint in the lower back. I can never remember the name, it's one of those long names the average person is not meant to say. Thankfully, I'm not in a chair full time, yet. For me, I'm not really concerned with what anyone calls me, or doesn't call me. Those of us who have limitations are well aware we have them. It doesn't matter if you call it a disability, a handicap, or a challenge, it's all the same. I believe we all, everyone alive, has a disability or a handicap of some sort. It doesn't mean that we don't have abilities or that we aren't capable. Each one of us is challenged in this life. It's a part of being alive. For some of us, we have to try harder, we accept more, and we look deeper to find what we are capable of. Putting a label on it simply acknowledges the differences in our lives. I would rather have someone acknowledge the fact than to pretend it doesn't exist.

Some of the acceptable terms do give a wrong impression. For instance, here we are told to use the word challenged after the disability, like physically challenged or mentally challenged. How I feel that the word challenged gives the impression with a little hard work they can do better. I feel saying a person is blind rather then saying he is sight challenged is more honest. And I say a person is in a wheelchair. I sometimes make up a story that he was in the war and fell on a mine. I think it does make people with a broken leg or cannot use their legs feel better that I thought it was not their own fault they got that way. That is, because,I feel in the case of those who got that way by their own careless acts, that they are the ones who do the most screaming about hurting their feelings. But if one is a bit slow, well usually they have a nice personality to compensate it, so really they should not be offended. As long as it is not very insulting words. Just be honest and do not use too many euphemisms.