Is your language healing or inflammatory?

The National Center on Disability and Journalism, headquartered at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University has a brilliant website with terms and words used in the world of people with disabilities. Their website states that their goal is to provide support and guidance for journalists as they cover people with disabilities. This resource is one that would help journalist worldwide to have a reference point when they are stuck or unsure of how to address issues to do with disability. They do recommend, however, that it is a good thing for a journalists or communications person to ask the person with a disability how they would like to be described. Despite our geographical distance with that institution, there is a lot to learn from the recommendations they make. It would be a good thing if everyone, not just journalists, visited such sites to learn the appropriate way to relate with people with disabilities.

People say many inappropriate things in society when they refer to people with disabilities. Before one can even go to discriminatory attitude, words are usually the first to show prejudice. This is particularly obtainable in respect of people with mental illnesses. A degree of sensitivity will go a long way in improving the quality of life of such people. There are various disorders that constitute mental illness. Without getting into detail, some of them are anxiety and panic disorders, bipolar disorder, depression, eating disorders, schizophrenia, and substance abuse and addiction. In a discussion unrelated to this article, though quite relevant to it, Dr Violet Mwanjali, a Psychiatrist and Mental Health Specialist, said many people went through life with untreated mental illness because of fear of stigma. She highlighted that many forms of mental illness were treatable and affected individuals could actually be contributing members of society if they stuck to their treatment plans.  Language that is used in relation to mental illness, however, might serve to discourage people from embracing their disability and finding intervention. This in turn causes a lot of turmoil in the lives of affected individuals, their families, and society at large. I remember a shocking local headline that referred to mentally ill people as “Stark raving lunatics”. It is totally unacceptable to use abrasive language like that towards fellow human beings. Other bad words journalists and ordinary people use on people with mental illness are crazy, loony, mad, maniac, psycho, insane, retarded, and deranged. Others call psychiatric hospitals “loony bins”. In light of that, a person with a mental illness would not be motivated to openly declare his/her illness for fear of being persecuted, yet it is a medical condition just like any other. The NCDJ recommends the use of mental illness or disorder, if you don’t know the specific illness, as more acceptable than any other terms.

People should find time to research more on mental illnesses, particularly if they have affected loved ones around them. It is not enough to just see that someone is “acting weird” and not take action. I believe much heartache and many suicides could be averted if people educated themselves on what sets their loved ones with signs of mental illness off, and tried to get them prompt medical attention. It is possible for someone to feel themselves sink into a dark place, but it is not easy to accept a mental illness diagnosis because of the stigma associated with it. People with diabetes do not have to hide in the shadows because theirs is not a victimized condition.

Dwarfism is a common genetic disability characterised by shortness of stature and disproportionately short limbs. Any adult human below the height of 147 cm is considered to have dwarfism. Because of lack of empathy or sheer ignorance, there are many names thrown at people with dwarfism. I have heard many terrible names, targeted at poking fun at their height, given to them in many languages. Some just call them Shorty, Giant, or other names that still show they are finding humour in the person’s disability. I know some people with dwarfism that laugh along at jokes made on them. This could just be a survival strategy and does not mean they are delighted to have jokes made at their expense.  Some people feel it is more acceptable to call people with this condition “midgets”, but that is also regarded as offensive and derogatory. Besides, the terms do not even describe the same thing. The term midget was used to describe persons of small size but with regular proportions when compared to average people. That term has since been struck off the polite language list, regardless of whether one is referring to dwarfism or just small size in people. It is also not considered appropriate to call them vertically challenged. It has become more acceptable to refer to people with dwarfism as little people, or describe them as having short stature. Dwarf is usually used in medical terms.

Although this piece was primarily targeted at media people, it is nonetheless relevant to everyday language we use in society. The book of James 3 in the bible has verses that say, “So the tongue is a small organ and can speak big things. Think how great a forest ever so small a spark sets on fire. The tongue is also a fire, a world of wickedness…Every kind of animal, of bird, of reptile and sea creature is tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being is able to tame the tongue, this restless evil so full of deadly poison. We praise the Lord and Father with it; with it we also curse men who have been made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth blessing and cursing proceed. This is not right, my brothers; it must not be this way”. Let it not be your tongue that is heard calling someone sidalwa, sichwala or kukhubateka. Speak love, speak healing, speak acceptance.