Handicapped
Handicapped is a word that was used frequently to describe either a situation that has a limiting factor, or a person who has a limiting attribute. When describing a handicapped person, the usual image that forms in people’s minds is that of a person in a wheelchair or someone with a missing limb or appendage or of a person with mental limitations.
At Blog Subway, we have decided to create a series of articles separate from the main blog that will deal with many aspects of handicapped people, or more correctly called, in these more enlightened politically correct times as people with disabilities.
These will therefore not be regular blog posts that can attract discussion via the comments, but will be standalone informational pieces that should go some way to informing and educating people to the many ways in which life differs, from the way it is viewed by the able bodied, for people with disabilities and limited or impaired mobility.
As such, the topics we intent to touch upon include accessibility of public and private buildings and spaces, transport issues, design issues of functional places such as bathrooms, kitchens, workshops and other utility areas where tasks are performed that require a more thoughtful layout and design than would be used for the able bodied.
There may be issues and subjects that are not as easy to broach as others, but we will not pull any punches just to placate anyone who feels that the only way to behave is to walk on egg shells. Therefore, we will use terminology that is not just pertinent, but if there are no better descriptive options than those that were used before the politically correct movement restricted everyone’s vocabulary with their nonsense, the we will use them. hence the title “handicapped” and its brief opening paragraph’s description.
For despite the call to drop certain terms from our vocabulary, we also want our articles to be found by people searching for them. To this end our researches have revealed that the most prevalent searches for anything related to this subject contains the words “handicap” and “handicapped” to describe certain aspects of life with disabilities. So we must use the terms that people search on otherwise we will not be found by the largest audience, which is any published work’s goal.
So please we do not wish to deliberately offend anyone when we describe a handicapped bathroom, or handicap ramps. These are merely the terms that the vast majority of people search on for information regarding these and similar subjects.