Reflections on Word Choices

I find myself sitting at the keyboard pondering the silence. Both kids are asleep and it's 9pm. It's particularly great because there's nothing that has to be done. I can just sit and reflect on the day or my own thoughts (I'll have to re-introduce myself). When I took Riley for a walk today I was thinking about the latest politically correct term "differently abled." It was the walk that prompted this since I use one crutch and push her in her Dora car with the other:

So, as we make our way down the block I wonder if there are other mother's who have used this toy this way and I remember there was a pamphlet at ToysRUs to instruct in picking out toys for the "differently abled." Let me first say I think this is a marvelous idea not that anyone ever bought me a jump rope as a kid, but not all disabilities (or different ablements?) are physical.

Which brings me at long last to my point, I'm not sure how I feel about "differently abled." It pretty much says nothing. Isn't every human being differently abled than the next? Maybe they figure if it says nothing it can offend no one. What happened to disabled? That's the term I use most often. Which got me thinking...you disable a speaker or a router. Does disable mean something that had function and has now lost it? As apposed to unable which implies never having had an ability? I mean you can't be unabled besides being improper English there's no parking for that.

I know it went out of fashion when I was a kid, but want happened to handicapped? It sounds so cheerful. Aside from it's association with golf I see nothing wrong with it. It does lack some seriousness. I guess it's all subjective and as a minority I suppose we all agree "lame" or "gimps" doesn't have any appeal. Are they just going to keep re-doing the little blue signs? Handicapped Parking to Disabled Parking makes sense more concise fits better on the sign, but Differently Abled Parking is quite a mouth full.