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Check out the picture on the left. This is what you get when you type “invalid” into Google. Honestly, I like to put the word “invalid” along with “wheelchair-bound” in the ‘Words That Really Piss Me Off’ bucket. Namely because they are such archaic vernacular, not to mention their grossly offensive connotations, and being so reminiscent of a time when disabled people were not to be seen or spoken of. If you weren’t aware, the ‘Disability Benefit’ in New Zealand is in fact called the ‘Invalids Benefit’. How this can still be an acceptable term to use in the year 2007 absolutely astounds and disgusts me. You might as well call it the ‘Retard’s Benefit’.
This little rant has surfaced after reading Jonny’s post over at the Tiaho Trust website on just this topic, Invalid = adjective: null and void. Jonny says:
We have a Minister of Disability Issues who describes herself as an advocate and a champion for disabled people. However we still have a government who uses an antiquated and derogatory word to label anyone who receives an Invalids Benefit because they cannot get paid work because of their disability.
What do you guys think anyway? Are there any other disability-related words you like or dislike? Leave your comments below 
6 responses so far ↓
1 KeaPundit // Dec 11, 2007 at 11:00 pm
Red, I believe that no matter what we say or do, people are going to label us. That’s a function of the human brain, it’s a coping strategy. I believe no-one can hurt us like the way we hurt ourselves. Certainly some people use ignorant, hurtful words, but usually because they don’t know better or even don’t WANT to know better. The only thing in life that you can control is yourself. Words only hurt you if you let them hurt you.
2 Red // Dec 11, 2007 at 11:19 pm
To be honest mate I completely disagree. Would you tell a black person it’s okay to call them ‘nigger’, and to just get over it because they can’t control the vernacular? Would you tell a gay person to accept being called a ‘faggot’, and blame them if it hurts their feelings? Hell no!
The fact of the matter is that words like invalid, retard, cripple, and indeed abhorrent words like faggot and nigger, are all reminiscent of days when discrimination was rife and the groups labelled as such were seen as second-class citizens.
It’s important to make a concerted effort, as members of a minority group, to steer the public’s vocabulary - and thus public opinion - away from words which harked back to a much scarier time for disabled people, and do our best to shift society towards a much more positive and inclusive environment.
3 NZ wins Franklin D. Roosevelt Award // Dec 12, 2007 at 12:07 pm
[…] Login ← Are we really “invalid”? […]
4 KeaPundit // Dec 12, 2007 at 3:39 pm
I think you misunderstood what I wrote. I didn’t say it was alright to say harmful things, I was offering a strategy for not falling to pieces every time someone says a “taboo” word.
You have to ask yourself, what’s more harmful; a person that knows all the politically correct words to use but treats you as a retard, or someone who calls you a retard or a cripple then treats you that way?
We agree about improving the lot of disabled people, no doubt about that.
If some treats me as an equal, but calls me by a name that is offensive to me, I’d feel in a better place to correct them.
5 KeaPundit // Dec 12, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Just another thing…
I think “Invalid” is a French word and means something like special, I’ll check that one out.
In 1999-2000, a group I belonged to invited Ruth Dyson to speak, one of her points was that she would get rid of the word “Invalid” in Invalid’s benefit. Still, it has only been seven years…
6 Katha // Dec 19, 2007 at 3:49 am
“confined to a wheelchair”….stupid expression…sounds like beeing handcuffed to the wheelchair…
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