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Hello all,

I am an Education Specialist/Intern in North Richland Hills, TX working with the homeless and low- income population to find employment, while finishing my master's in Rehabilitation Counseling with UNT. Within the homeless and low- income population, I work with people that have a criminal background, have a disability, have low marketable skills, and/or a history of drug abuse. 

However, I wanted to post my opinions about person- first language. By calling someone "disabled" you are really limiting their abilities especially in employment. Calling someone an addict or even mentally ill removes their own identity and labels them into a category. The person- first language states, "This is a person with a disability, but that is not the whole person." This kind of language opens up an environment where people without disabilities can get to know people with disabilities without thinking that the disability IS the person. Historically, disabled, handicapped, mentally ill, crazy, and mentally retarded are terms that have been used when talking about people with disabilities, but I hope that one day this kind of language is no longer used to describe people with disabilities.

Just a thought!

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Victoria Queen
toriqueen7@gmail.com
Watauga, TX United States
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The federal Certificate of Job Readiness letter I use states an individual with a physical disability as qualifying language.  The first paragraph of the letter is as follows, and I change it accordingly for the individual situation. Jill

October 18, 2013

 

Re:     Certification of Job Readiness for Sally Leigh Jones

 

To Whom It May Concern;

 

Please consider Ms. Sally Leigh Jones as an individual with a physical disability as defined by Schedule A (5 C.F.R. 213.3102(u)) - US Office of Personnel Management. Ms. Jones is likely to succeed in the performance of a position requiring education, experience and skills similar to hers, and with accommodations as outlined below by her treating physician. Per the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, "A qualified individual with a disability is a person who meets legitimate skill, experience, education, or other requirements of an employment position that s/he holds or seeks, and who can perform the essential functions of the position with or without reasonable accommodation. " (http://www.ada.gov/q%26aeng02.htm)

 

Per Stanley Quick, MD in his report dated October 2, 2009, Ms. Jones' diagnoses were lumbosacral strain, right L5 radiculopathy, strained ACL right knee, torsional injury to the right ankle with arthroscopic surgery and lateral capsular reconstruction. Ms. Jones is restricted from prolonged standing and walking, bending, lifting or stooping.

 

With the above noted physical capacities, Ms. Jones is able to perform the requirements of the position for which she is applying.

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Jill S. Brown, MS, CRC, LRC, CCM
Vocational Consultant
PO Box 830
West Brookfield, MA 01585
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