Is "disability" a bad word?
Recently, I've noticed that many people have stopped using the word "disability" and are inventing what I consider to be silly and cutesy euphemisms to use instead. The latest one is "diversability." Now, I am a writer and an editor, and it's my job to work with words. I don't believe that "diversability" is a word. If you put it into two words, "diverse ability/diverse abilities" it doesn't mean the same thing as "disability." For example, sometimes I can't breathe. That's not a "diverse ability." It's a disability. It's an INability to breathe.
I was recently invited to a lecture about "supporting people who live with an invisible diversability." I replied that I would not attend such a lecture because of what I consider to be a stupid and condescending name. (The person who named it does not have a disability.) I was told by the organizer that they use "diversability" because some people get depressed when they have a disability, because "disability" means they can't do things. Therefore, they use the term "diversability" to make people feel better. My response to that is that if I am depressed, telling me that I have "a diversability" is not going to make me feel less depressed. A depressed person who is depressed over having a disability would benefit more from peer support and possibly counselling than from being told they have something called "a diversability."
I have also heard "differently abled" as a euphemism for disability. My response to that is that I have different abilities from you, and Batman has different abilities from Superman; that's not the same thing as being disabled. As I said earlier, being unable to breathe isn't a different ability. It's a disability.
I was recently invited to a lecture about "supporting people who live with an invisible diversability." I replied that I would not attend such a lecture because of what I consider to be a stupid and condescending name. (The person who named it does not have a disability.) I was told by the organizer that they use "diversability" because some people get depressed when they have a disability, because "disability" means they can't do things. Therefore, they use the term "diversability" to make people feel better. My response to that is that if I am depressed, telling me that I have "a diversability" is not going to make me feel less depressed. A depressed person who is depressed over having a disability would benefit more from peer support and possibly counselling than from being told they have something called "a diversability."
I have also heard "differently abled" as a euphemism for disability. My response to that is that I have different abilities from you, and Batman has different abilities from Superman; that's not the same thing as being disabled. As I said earlier, being unable to breathe isn't a different ability. It's a disability.