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Wrestling with Ableist Language

Wrestling with Ableist Language

Last updated on: February 5, 2018 at 7:38 am by Amy Beltaine

Wrestling with Ableist Language 2018-02-05T07:38:04+00:00 Amy Beltaine

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Diversity in our Diversity

My friend from college, Shulamit Levine-Helleman, points out that different communities (and individuals) may have different preferences. Shulamit says, “being autistic is part of who I am, not something I have, so I say I am autistic. My physical difficulties, on the other hand, are not an intrinsic part of my identity, and what is disabling is not my physical condition but the barriers placed by society, so I say I have a disability. We should respect the preferences of the individual, not impose person first language in all cases.” We humans really want to be right. But which way is RIGHT? Well, that depends!

I was taught to use “differently-abled” for anyone with a disability. That was the RIGHT WAY. (You know you are about to get into trouble whenever you think you know the one “right way.”) And then folks told me that they get to choose what they want to be called, and “differently-abled” isn’t it! Part of this work is dealing with the messiness and evolving language. I’m still growing into using “they/them” language and “queer” since I came of age back in the days of “wimmin” and “lesbian” Lol. Alex Haider-Winnett, Radical Copy-editor, has this fabulous comic about exactly this: https://radicalcopyeditor.com/…/person-centered-language/

Rev Maureen Killoran points out that [her grandkids] “exclusion is not from the language of “listening/hearing” but from the exclusive assumptions that shape our hearing world.” and Rev Michael Tino points out, “metaphors often shape those assumptions, so we need to use them carefully.”

Attending to Language as Transformative Prayer

Usually it is easy to switch to more inclusive language. And I love the thrill it gives me when I feel that sense of expansiveness…when I pause to notice the way I use language about bodies it invites me to be inclusive of the actual humans before me. It is a type of praying…

As a my Facebook friend Susan Christie says, “I’ve had similar challenges (and a sense of expansiveness) in trying to reduce images of war, violence, and fighting in my language. It’s very hard!” And Rev. Tandi Rogers comments “I also get a rush when we inch toward including ourselves and other people we love.”

When you pause to consider that not everyone stands to sing because you pause to say “Please rise in body and/or in spirit to join in singing…”, then you are opening your awareness to those individuals who cannot or do not stand for singing. You might change the way the chairs are set up so that seated individuals can see the lyrics. Pausing to attend to the potential needs of these individuals in your words is an opening to attending to the potential needs of these individuals in your actions.

From Words to Action

Yvonne Aburrow

Does your ritual have a way for hearing impaired folks to hear you? Does your worship circle have an opening for people who use scooters or wheelchairs? Have you checked in with your neurodivergent folks to find out if the singing bowl will be painful to them? Is there a scent-free area? Slowing down long enough to rewrite your prayer or song or speaking part can be a powerful way to turn thought into awareness and awareness into action. And ultimately, inclusive action is how we remove the disabling barriers and create the beloved community.

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The prayer I used to sing (and used to invite others to sing with me) is by Susan Arrow

Thank you mother earth

Thank you sister water

Thank you for my birth

Thank you from your daughter (which I changed to Thanks from you sons and daughters, could be “Thanks where ‘ere we wander”)

Thank you brother sun

Thank you air in motion

Thank you everyone

Earth air fire and ocean.

This prayer is very dependent on the Gender Binary. So I have left it behind. I would love an alternate prayer or a rewrite. (Can anyone find Susan Arrow?)

———–

My business name has been “Listen to Heart Song“. That is able-ist in that it relies on “listen” as a primary way of being in the world. For now, I’m changing it to “Reverend Amy, Spiritual Direction.” If you’d like to play with a new name with me, join my facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/revamyspiritualdirection/

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