Special Education Word Power People With Disabilities Term Paper

Total Length: 664 words ( 2 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 2

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Special Education

Word Power

People with disabilities comprise a large portion of contemporary society's population base. As such, it would greatly behoove people today to give more consideration to a host of factors that affect those that are disabled, such as the creation and implementation of proper facilities, courteous treatment, and even the language that is used to refer to them. The terminology used to refer to people who happen to have disabilities is examined in a pair of essays authored by Kathie Snow, which are entitled "The Case Against "Special Needs" and "People Language First." The author believes that by changing the language that is used to describe the disabled and the peculiarities that they need, such people will substantially benefit in virtually all aspects of their lives.

The principle thesis that exists in both essays is that the language used to categorize people with disabilities and the specific tools they use has a major impact upon them and their perception of the world. The conventional etymology used to refer to these people is outdated, Snow propounds, and should be replaced by language that takes more pains to consider those that have disabilities as people first, and as disabled or handicapped secondly.

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Snow spends a great deal of each essay deconstructing the traditional language and their negative effects they have had upon those who are disabled. The author reinforces her concepts largely through emotional appeals, such as the fact that at any point in time most people can have something happen to them that renders them as part of the disabled population set.

A number of arguments proffered by Snow in defense of her central premise are fairly intriguing -- and mostly unsubstantiated. This premise itself -- that the single biggest obstacle for disabled people to overcome is the pejorative language used to describe them and that which they need to function -- is largely unsupported, and leaves one wondering is not a form of retardation that leaves someone intellectually challenged….....

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Latest APA Format (6th edition)

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"Special Education Word Power People With Disabilities" (2012, April 07) Retrieved June 6, 2026, from
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/special-education-word-power-people-disabilities-56034

Latest MLA Format (8th edition)

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"Special Education Word Power People With Disabilities" 07 April 2012. Web.6 June. 2026. <
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/special-education-word-power-people-disabilities-56034>

Latest Chicago Format (16th edition)

Copy Reference
"Special Education Word Power People With Disabilities", 07 April 2012, Accessed.6 June. 2026,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/special-education-word-power-people-disabilities-56034