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Blog Post Challenge #5


For this blog post I decided to write about a brief description of the correct way to write about and report on people with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act defines disability as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. This changes nothing when comparing those with disabilities to those without. They are still human beings, they have strengths and weaknesses just as I do, they succeed and fail just as I do, and they have dreams and nightmares just like I do. With just these few examples, how can one say that someone with a disability is any different from anyone else? Its that simple, you cant, because they aren’t. Here are a few tips for writing about someone with a disability: 1. Put the person first not his or her disability, 2. Emphasize abilities not limitations, 3. Do not focus on the disability unless it is essential, 4. Do not portray successful people with disabilities as heroic overachievers or long suffering saints, 5. Do not equate disability with illness, and lastly 6. Always RESPECT the person!

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