Blind? Or visually impaired?
- 15 Feb 06, 12:00 AM
Here's an interesting contribution to the never-ending debate about language, and what the 'right' terms are (or aren't) for various impairments: . And how was he insulted? Well, a member of the hospital staff called him 'visually impaired' rather than 'blind' - something about which the man at the centre of the story, 71-year-old pensioner Charles Parsons, feels most strongly:
"They told me they needed to ask me some questions about my incapacity. I was asked if I was visually impaired, to which I replied, 'No, I'm blind'. Then she said she was not able to use the term 'blind', just the term 'visually impaired' . . . Impaired vision and blindness are different things: there are a lot of short-sighted, one-eyed people out there, but they aren't blind. I've no objection to being asked what is wrong, but I will not stand for having my disability played down. It's insulting."
But that wasn't the end of it. Oh no. Mr Parsons then tried to book hospital transport, but was instead asked if he could drive. Hmm. Clearly not a man to mince his words, Charles pointed out: "How the bloody hell can I drive if I'm blind?"
Comments
I agree with Mr. Parsons..The world has gone mad, if some one is blind say that they are blind. Likewise if some one has a visual impairment say so. We are encouraged as disabled people to stand up and be counted to shout our disablity from the roof tops, of course this really means shout yes but do it quietly. I must admit I find it amusing watching people try to search for the correct buzz word for that particular day, sometimes I just interupt when they are struggling to find what they think is the least offensive word and just say "I'm blind". Sometimes i follow that up with "Have you met my dog". I will end this just by saying, political correctness is all well and good but it has a time and place, coz as a blind person I find it hard to keep up with what expression to use.