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I disagree- it is just a further form of political correctness. I am anti-racism/facist and am by not prejudice against any goup of people(s). However politicall corectness has gone far to far. People are scared of being sued and populer opinion is that all people are equal. Racism is the prime example, at one point it was offence to call people "black" even though they are black! This to me seems extremely stupid. It is another branch of this phase where everyone sues everyone else. A guy got a quater of a million pounds after he fell and injured himself (this was because he was running away from the police after robbing a bank). at the rate society is going, people wont have names (because they are being discrimated from another person) and wont be able to go to the shops without being sued for standing on someones shoe. the propossed wording changes are taking this to new levels.

Jesus ...

james, I guess that's not exactly a reply you were ... errr ... supposed to give.

As for political correctness - that is true ... do you actually know WHY this term is called "POLITICAL correctness"? - It is simple and intuitive - politicians are POLITICALLY correct to gain support from those whom they show this correctness to.

Alright, "black" or "[censored]" may be offensive (how should we call them? maybe "over-tanned"? ... to me "white" doesn't sound offensive), but those people - have decided that everything is permitted now - and they use every possible situation to use their "rights" ... Look at Bush's government, not a single pure american as far as can be seen - THAT IS POLITICAL CORRECTNESS at its best. If you fire a white person from a company, everything goes normal, but if you fire a black one, then they will start shouting that you're a racist, a nazi, that you hurt their civil rights, etc ... Watch any recent movie - there must be a black person somewhere, whatch ANYTHING, half - people white, the other half black, is that so? Is it that half of population in USA is white and the other is black? You say that "not common" people rights are hurt, I say that "common" people right are hurt! There was some kind of half-story-half-joke ...

- Who is the most beneficial person in USA?
- A black, lesbian prostitute with AIDS ...

Not too far from the truth, I say ... As for people with health problems ...

Have you ever watched "Notting Hill" ... there was a moment towards the end, when the main guy wanted to gain some information from a hotel receptionist and that one would refuse, then his female friend with disabilities came in a wheel-chair and said something like "Do you want everyone to know how your Hotel treats disabled people???" to the receptionist, and this one inmediately told everything. It is a comedy film, but there is a part of truth in every joke. Everyone in USA is so frightened to accidentially squeeze these peoples' rights that many things go forgiven to THEM, that would never have been forgiven to a normal person ... and that's not correct. That is an abuse ... Anyways, this is a bit off-topic ...

As for this particular topic ... I agree that being rude or disrespectfull about someone's illness or disability is not good. But please, don't go too far. "Handicapped" nowadays means nothing like it meant many years according to your data. At any college, in English lesson - "handicapped" would mean a person with some kind of disaddvatage, nothing more ... noone is calling you a begger. And as for the rest of terminology, I also disagree, it is purely artificial, it's used in medicine but would sound weird out of the mouth of a normal person.

congenital disability birth defect / brain injury brain damaged

What is so bad about "brain injury"? Nobody is telling that this guy is "nuts" or "out of his mind" or whatever. To me, a "brain injury" is respectfull enough. What you suggest is nonsence.

Last, but not least, I suggest everyone who likes to "use their rights" to stop doing this in this manner, stop abusing your rights ... if you don't want to become hated by others. Look at "jewish-german" problem ... that is sick ... If there is a particular case of misstreatment, then you might want to go to a court, but stop calling attention of others every second on this. This goes for everyone who feels unhappy ... not straight people, racial minorities people, people with disabilities, anyone ...

Once again, Happy New Year to everyone! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Now you may flame me to death ...

First of all, I won't flame anyone. This is an open discussion for all opinions.

James, I don't think suing is the answer either nor do I believe one should sue over words, discrimination and acts that discriminate then yes.

Additionally, it was stated that the word handicapped no longer means beggar. It may be history and a history I believe we must learn from and to be honest when you say someone is handicapped that does relay in society's eyes that the person is ill or weak. Not the case - we are people - just like all humans. By the way, I believe that everyone has some sort of disability in varying degrees.

Brain injured is not wrong but without putting the person first and saying a person with a brain injury is wrong. No one is just brain injured. They are a human first. I happen to have a brain injury (CP) but I that is just a part of who I am and does not define me.

You reference Notting Hill where a person uses their disability to threaten to gain information. That is wrong. I agree with that. People who use any part of their disability to get what they want with malicious intent is wrong and should not happen. Movies should not portray such things and helps perpetuate the sterotype that people with disabilities do such things. We do not.

Jaclyn, with all respect I would treat a person who has some problems with health, out of many reasons:

1) Out of dignity ... I'm not a complete bastard no matter how bad I can sound at some topics.
2) I could become like these people any day and would certainly like to receive some decent treatment from the others.

What I against is using any sort of any "problematic" issue which can be applied to you (like: "My jewish grandpa died in nazi camps, give 10 millions dollars for compensation", "Hey man! I'm black, cant ya see??? Give me that manager of top-of-world corporation place or I'll sue your [censored] for racial descrimination!", "Hey, can't you see I have to of my legs broken, pay me twice as much and give me 3 months off in a year!") to get benefits in one form or another.

As for brain injury and other terminology, I think there is some serious missunderstanding here: If had to refer to someone with such an injury, I'd say "Hey, there is Joe, go talk to him", or something alike. If someone ASKED me "I've heard that he's ill or something, is that so?", I'd say, "Oh, he has a brain injury ..." or something alike. I mean, I would never mantion some illness in any convesation unless it needs to be mentioned. I'd never say "Go talk to retarded Joe over there ...". So, let us avoid missunderstanding.

It is like saying "Go into the green house.", But "green" ... what does it stand for? Is it necessary in the sentence? No. Same here.

I know, you wouldn't flame me, just kidding, never mind that ... The thing about opinions is that all are subjective and all are formed from life experience. And you can't really say something is right or wrong. For instance: USA-Iraq - for you, american citizens it is right to attack, cause it will save you from economical crisis and solve many problems. For the rest of the world it is wrong, because there is no reason to attack and USA would break many laws by doing so. Who's right? Nobody is right. Outcome - the strongest wins. USA rule - USA do what they see fit. Maybe Spain would like to attack north Africa to solve problems and put some control - nobody would let them do that (that's hypothetical, I don't think that that's Spain's intention, just an example), Spain is weak, so they just keep their opinion to themselves till better times come. I hope you get the point.

The sane behaviour is to hear another opinion about an issue and think "Hmmm, that's curious ...", nobody is wrong or right, but there are things as majority, or physical power, that take over.

Errrrrr ... sorry for going rather off-topic ... hmmmm ... Maybe mods should move this somewhere else ... Anyways, happy holidays, take care, see you next year guys and gals! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

To get back to the original article.....The idea of seeing the person first is an excellent one. I am a person who happens to be blonde. I am a person who happens to have blue eyes. These attritutes are part of who I am, but they are not all that I am.

To add more fuel to the discussion I just added an article (part of a series) on multiculturalism:
A More Truly Diverse Notion of Excellence

Paula,
Thank you for posting!!

AINTD,
Thank you for sharing your viewpoint! It is always welcome here. To me, this issue is all about respect.

i dont think it matters at all tbh. an insult is only an insult if it is met as an insult. [censored] can be an insult but blacks often use it as a term for themselves. The whole political corect idea of putting people first thing is stupid. I dont care if someone says "he has blue eyes his name is james" or "hes james he has blue eyes". dont matter in the end. if political coreeectness continues (as you propose) in the future it could be highly offencsive to say "he has blue eyes his name is james" which is stupid. in my humble opinion it is takling political correctness to new and ridiculess levels.

i dont think it matters at all tbh. an insult is only an insult if it is met as an insult. [censored] can be an insult but blacks often use it as a term for themselves. The whole political corect idea of putting people first thing is stupid. I dont care if someone says "he has blue eyes his name is james" or "hes james he has blue eyes". dont matter in the end. if political coreeectness continues (as you propose) in the future it could be highly offencsive to say "he has blue eyes his name is james" which is stupid. in my humble opinion it is takling political correctness to new and ridiculess levels.