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Better English 44
Timely Communications Tips
March 9, 2010
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SAM, YOU CAN CALL ME SAM
-- DON'T FEEL SORRY FOR THEM
-- SIX STEPS TO SUCCESS
-- SOME TERMS TO AVOID
-- REMEMBER FDR?

Are you at ease communicaing with people with disabilities?

Maybe you are like the stumbling attorney in the film, "I Am Sam" who refers to her client as handicapped, then with a disability, then as retarded.

Exasperated, the attorney says, "I don't know what to call you."

"Sam," he replies. "You can call me Sam."

Our new book to be released this month, "Getting Back in the Game: How to Regain Your Life after Disability," by Mark Shepherd Sr., sparked me to offer some tips on communicating with those who endure a disability.

After you read this newsletter, come back here and click to download a free sample chapter of his riveting testimony.

DON'T FEEL SORRY FOR THEM
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 One problem we have is feeling sorry for people with disabilities. We think that they are bitter or depressed. Far from the truth. Many feel that their lives are quite frankly, enriched.

Another misstep is being so afraid to say the wrong thing. Try to treat the person with respect and look beyond the disability is the advice Mark Shepherd Sr. offers.

Remember, they are just people. And like all people, they have different attitudes and responses to everything.


SIX STEPS TO SUCCESS
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 Here are six pointers to lead you in the right direction.

  1. Don't make assumptions about what is best. Question first.
  2. Ask before you help. Struggling by herself may be fine.
  3. Talk directly to your subject, and at eye level.
  4. Speak normally; no need to shout or slow down.
  5. Use ordinary language. "See" and "look" are just fine.
  6. Be careful of personal space. Don't touch or lean on canes or wheelchairs.

SOME TERMS TO AVOID
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 Consider these suggestions for the right versus the wrong terms.

--"people with disabilities" versus "the disabled" or "the handicapped"
--"person who uses a wheelchair" versus "wheelchair bound" or "confined to a wheelchair"
--"person who is blind" or "person who is visually impaired" versus "the blind"
--"physically disabled" versus "cripple," "lame," or "deformed"
--"seizure" versus "fit"


REMEMBER FDR?
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 Doubtless one of the greatest occupants of the White House, Franklin D. Roosevelt, our 32nd, is the only president elected to more than two terms.

He was stricken by polio at age 39. FDR thought that being perceived with a disability would weaken his standing as a strong political leader. In his dozen years as president, we can find only a handful of photographs of him in a wheelchair.

True, the most powerful man in the United States had a disability. But suppose he had not felt it necessary to keep his disability away from the public--in the closet, so to speak?

"Once you've spent two years trying to wiggle one toe, everything is in proportion," he said.

Sincerely,
Barry Beckham


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