DIS-ability | Zina Jawadi

We often hear the term "Are you retarded?"  I am always bothered by that expression, because it connotes that having a disability is unacceptable, shameful, and wrong and that people with disabilities are inferior to those without.  From my personal experience with hearing loss, a disability only becomes a DIS-ability when a person with the disability is at a disadvantage strictly because of her or his disability.  Given the same opportunity, people with disabilities are fully capable of excelling at almost everything people without disability can master.  Furthermore, people with disabilities often compensate and perform better in the same area of their disabilities.  For example, people with hearing loss may not hear well with their ears due to biological reasons; however, people with hearing loss often compensate with more and better speech reading (sometimes inaccurately called lip reading) and by observing people's body language and emotions more acutely than normal hearing people.  "Are you deaf?" is another offensive expression that our society does not seem to be able to shed.  Anyone who has been around deaf people will tell you that they tend to be highly expressive, including in their use of signing.  Next time we hear "are you deaf?" or "are you retarded?" we should object and remind the perpetrator that such expressions are simply unacceptable.