First Self-Advocacy Dictionary Requests Submissions
TOPIC: The First Self-Advocacy Dictionary of the English Language
Language is power. Some words, like developmental disability, have the power of money behind them. Other words, like moron, have the power of ridicule and shame—two thousand years of negative stereotypes. Still other more recent words, like People First, have the power of solidarity with others in the self-advocacy movement. When we decide which words are important and what they mean, we take this power into our own hands, using it to shape the world the way we want it to be. The Self-Advocacy Resource Network is compiling a dictionary of words of particular importance to self-advocates and allies. Words of oppression, words of empowerment, words that keep cropping up, or should be. Please join us in creating this power-full tool.
1.The First Self-Advocacy Dictionary of the English Language
A word’s “official” meaning is often quite different from its meaning to someone in the self-advocacy movement. Take the word “grave marker.” The definition in the Webster’s dictionary reads:
grave marker: 1. a marker placed on a grave to identify the person buried there.
However, someone from the self-advocacy movement, who knows the recent history of state-run institutions, would perhaps give some different definitions:
grave marker: 1. something denied to persons who die in state institutions. 2. a small stone with only a number on it, presuming to identify a person who died in a state institution. 3. a stone giving the name of the person who died, a basic right of all people, a sign of dignity and respect.
Since language belongs to all of us, we can take the power to define the words that surround us in life. We can strengthen the self-advocacy movement by making our own dictionary. The First Self-Advocacy Dictionary of the English Language is now a work in progress. We’d like you to submit words that have been powerful in your life, words that are a part of your experience with disability rights and the self-advocacy movement. Tell us how you define them, what they mean to you. These could be positive or negative words, helpful or harmful words. These could be confusing technical terms or playful words. The definitions don’t have to be “dictionary-like”. You may want to tell a story about the word. With this dictionary, we hope to empower each other to name a new reality—a reality in which all people are respected, in which all people have the power of choice, and in which all people contribute to society.
2. A Few More Definitions from the New Dictionary
Here are a few more definitions from The First Self-Advocacy Dictionary of the English Language. As you read these, please be thinking about other words you would like to include in the dictionary.
assertive: 1. the way to communicate in order to get what you want in life. 2. you state your needs while also respecting others. 3. something you have to practice before you get good at. 4. how to act if you want to feel good about yourself.
acronym: 1. a bunch of capital letters that stand for something, such as SARN (Self-Advocacy Resource Network) and ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) 2. a confusing nonword that you can never remember what it means, such as ICUYS (I Can’t Understand Your Sentences), PUPE (Please Use Plain English) and ZRLMH (forgot this one). 3. a label others want you to wear before they can provide services (DD, MS, TBI, MR, MMI).
choice: 1. a basic value of the self-advocacy movement, as in “I have a choice of where and how I live.” 2. something denied to people with disabilities for most of history. 3. whoever is in charge has it. 4. often something made by others and handed to people with disabilities.
expert: 1. someone without a disability who has power over the life of a person with a disability (doctor, parent, special education teacher, speech therapist). 3. opposite of ally.
eye contact: 1. what you don’t get from people who see you only as a disability. 2. what you use when you are being assertive and getting what you want.
Idiot: 1. (from Webster’s Dictionary) “a feebleminded person having a mental age not exceeding three years and requiring complete custodial care.” 2. another word for someone with a developmental disability. 3. a harmful label. 4. a word people use everyday to criticize others, meaning they’re “a stupid worthless person”. 5. a word that children commonly learn from “children’s” movies.
leader: 1. a person who serves society (e.g., Rosa Parks, Ed Roberts). 2. any member of the self-advocacy movement, which is based on shared leadership. 3. someone who does more for the community than simply being a famous person, sports hero, rich person, beautiful person, elected official, highly-educated person or media darling.
number: 1. a word that tells how many, such as “100 million people are involved in self-advocacy worldwide,” or “curb cuts, started by people with disabilities, have a positive effect on the lives of 60 million people in the US.” 2. something instead of a name that was put on a grave marker to identify a person with a disability who died in a state institution. (See also: grave marker.)
special: 1. a word used by con artists to get you to buy something of poor quality, as in “Have I got a special deal for you.” 2. something at the store that you can buy at a reduced price, as in “Day-old donuts are on special today”. 3. how someone without a disability describes someone with a disability “We have 24 normal students and one ‘special’ student.” 4. someone who is not treated as a regular person.
3.We’d Like Your Help with these Particular Words
The following is a list of words we are working on. We would like more input from you about how these words are used. Specifically, we would like two types of feedback: definitions and examples showing how these words are used. Remember, words can have more than one meaning. A word’s “official” meaning is often quite different from its meaning to a self-advocate. Here are some particular words we’re looking to include: client, PCA, counselor, victim, sheltered workshop, group home, cripple, self-advocate, power, job, inclusion, segregation, nonsense, disability, pity, charity, sexuality, retarded, institution, dignity.
4. How to Submit an Entry
It’s easy. Just send us a note to act@selfadvocacy.org including some or all of the items listed below:
- The word.
- Your definitions—what this word means to you.
- Some background information about the word—how it affects your life.
- Examples that show how people use this word.
- Any other comments you have.
5. Resources
Most resources on self-advocacy, stereotypes, disability culture and disability rights will be full of useful, powerful words. See, for instance:
1. Self-Advocacy: Freedom, Equality, and Justice for All. This award-winning video brings to life the rise of the self-advocacy movement, the worldwide civil rights movement by and for people with developmental and other disabilities. Includes powerful activities for groups to explore their own experiences of civil rights, oppression, and working for change.
2. Shaking Off Stereotypes. Actor and disability activist Joy Mincey Powell plays Samantha, a young woman battling a series of negative labels and attitudes in this dynamic and entertaining program. Companion materials provide good exercises for building confidence and self-esteem in groups. See also SARN e-mail on Stereotypes: What’s The Matter With ME?! for more discussion of the power of language.
3. Disability, Identity and Culture. Language and power are at the core of disability culture, a culture based on empowerment, pride and a flat out, no apologies celebration of difference. Included with this resource is the award winning documentary “Disability Culture Rap,” featuring Cheryl Marie Wade. Also included are group exercises on naming, claiming and understanding disability culture.
4. ABC Clio Companion to the Disability Rights Movement, by Fred Pelka (1997). This book is a great “first place to look” resource. It’s an encyclopedia of the disability rights movement, with short, interesting entries on people, organizations, ideas and words (like the term “developmental disability” and where it comes from).
Exercise: Take Back the Power: Writing Your Own Definitions for Words
Goal: Participants begin to think about the power of words and how to use that power in their lives.
Description: The group chooses a couple of words and comes up with a variety of both fun and serious definitions for them.
Materials: Poster paper and markers.
Time: 20-30 minutes.
When your self-advocacy group gets together, try coming up with some entries for the new Dictionary. Say: “Now we are going to do a fun exercise to try to come up with our own definitions for some important words in our lives, words that come from our reality as self-advocates, words that come from our joys and struggles.”
- Introduce the concept. Read aloud some of the text from this e-mail (see sections #1 and #2 above) to introduce the concept.
- Choose a word to define. Go around the circle and ask people to each brainstorm a word they’d like to try writing definitions for. Write these on poster paper for all to see. Then look at the list and have the group choose one to start with. If folks are having trouble thinking of words, read from the list above (see Section #3 above) and ask folks to choose a word from this list.
- Brainstorm together about this word. Get some ideas and feelings going by asking these and/or similar questions and giving everyone in the circle a chance to respond. Ask people to look at the word and then ask: “When you hear this word, what comes to mind for you? What do experts want us to think this word means? Can you remember a particular event in your life when you heard this word? Can you remember where you were when you heard it? How does it make you feel? What other words come to mind when you hear this word? What words mean the opposite of this word? What do you think it means?”
- Write the definitions. Divide into groups of 2-3 people and ask each group to come up with four things: 1) a definition; 2) a revealing example of how the word is often used today; 3) opposites/antonyms of this word; 4) similar words/synonyms.
Ask each group to write down their results (take 5-10 minutes). Then have the small groups come together and ask each to read out loud what they came up with. Remember, there are no wrong answers here. Each person can decide what the word means to him or her.
- Submit to SARN (optional). Ask the group if they’d like to submit their work to the SARN dictionary project, The First Self-Advocacy Dictionary of the English Language. If so, e-mail your definitions to SARN at act@selfadvocacy.org.
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