The language used to describe disability and disability topics has sometimes affected me like a poke in the eye with a pointy stick. Other times it has left me muttering under my breath or cursing at the lack of sensitivity or appropriateness of the words used.
I am a sceptic through experience so maybe have developed a bit of a hair trigger but what I see as the inappropriate use of language has niggled away at me for decades whilst I struggled in my caring role without effective support. My struggle has left me deeply cynical (as well as completely drained) and I am prone to thinking the worst of any situation instead of being balanced and ‘awfully reasonable’. My cynicism has however provided me with an opportunity to let off steam at times and on occasion even engage my sense of humour which is broadly all I have left. Having said that on this occasion I am trying to be serious.
The first time I remember a passing poke in the eye in this regard was at the time of Mrs Thatcher’s Government when they unnecessarily branded parts of the NHS with this word TRUST and of course, me being me has since had me cursing under my breath every time I hear or see this reference because in my opinion this is being used as another word for charity. To me clearly the Government of the day wanted to make us think of the NHS as something charitable that we should be grateful for as really we are only worth supporting by charitable means rather than being provided with a fully funded service. “Be grateful you Plebs we are paying good money to keep you healthy out of the goodness of our loose change”.
Now, moving on, when I hear the term short breaks I take the word short as implying cheap. In other words we are not worth a longer or break of a decent duration, it has to be nice and short to save the lovely tax payer, (Gord Bless I’m or Err), a few quid. That’s if you meet the criteria of course or you can go swivel.
Next on to these lovely things called personal budgets and options like self directed support, wonderful concepts which I fully support, promoting greater independence and choice. Pity that these strategies are being hijacked to really mean weaning people off the State and of course we all know that in the future these schemes will ultimately only provide a donation towards the full costs of providing services rather than meeting the full costs. The ‘personal’ and ‘self directed’ are therefore seen by me as meaning it’s your own responsibility so get on with it while we put some change in your collecting box..
And finally, The Local Offer. What a lovely phrase. Not the Local Service guarantee, not the Local Promise of Services, not the Local promise that we will meet the assessed need, no. Instead it’s the Local Offer. What does this imply? Well of course for me it means like it or lump it. This is what we can be bothered to offer, if you don’t like it go somewhere else because we don’t care.
Language is so very important. I am sure there are many more examples, (like the phrase ‘suffer from’) but I will leave it to others to mention as I don’t want to give anyone the impression that I have a chip on my shoulder.
“Life, don’t talk to me about life”.
http://www.mencap.org.uk/blogs/why-short-breaks-and-not-respite#comment-15332
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