Definitely Severely Euphemized

[Image description: "Severely Euphemized" t-shirt from the Nth Degree.]

Proving once again that faith organizations can be among the most strenuous in bending inside out and sideways to avoid using the word "disability," I give you the Lutheran (ELCA) summer youth event for disabled teens.... the Definitely Abled Youth Leadership Event. Look around the page, see if you can find the word "disability," or "disabled," or "accessibility," or.... hoo-boy.

(The program may be fine for what it is, but you have to wonder about a program that won't even use the D word in its website.... )

April 19: Erastus "Deaf" Smith (1787-1837)

[Image description: A county map of Texas with Deaf Smith County highlighted in Red; it's a rectangular block on the New Mexico border in northern Texas]

It's not too hard to find disability-related place names (toponyms). Use Google Maps--there's Cripplegate in London, Cripple Creek in Colorado (and another Cripple Creek in Virginia), Blind Man Road in Williamsburg SC, Lunatic Creek in Montana (and another Lunatic Creek near Tenterfield, Australia), Idiotville (a ghost town) and Idiot Creek in Oregon, Asylum Township in Pennsylvania (actually, that one doesn't have anything to do with a lunatic asylum--it was named for a scheme to provide French nobles a refuge during the Revolution).

And then there's Deaf Smith County, Texas.

The first thing to know about Deaf Smith is that the name is pronounced DEEF Smith. Why? Because that's how its namesake Erastus "Deaf" Smith was called. Smith was born in New York State on this date in 1787. At 11 he moved to Mississippi with his parents; he lost much of his hearing as a youth, after surviving a serious illness. He was also called "El Sordo" (the deaf man) by his Spanish-speaking kin and connections. Smith was a Texas Ranger who served as a scout and a spy during the Texas Revolution. Upon Smith's death in 1837, Sam Houston wrote in a letter, "A man more brave and honest never lived." Deaf Smith County was named for him decades later.

February 26: John Puleston Jones (1862-1925)

The Welsh celebrate St. David's Day this weekend, so it seems timely to note the birthdate of a Welshman.

John Puleston Jones was born on this date in 1862, at Llanbedr. He was 18 months old when he became blind from an accidental injury. His mother (who wrote poetry as "Mair Clwyd") is credited with insisting that he learn independence skills in childhood. Puleston Jones was an excellent student through school, and after a year at the College for the Blind in Worcester he went on to Glasgow University and Balliol College, Oxford. He graduated with first-class honors in modern history.

Puleston Jones was always interested in Welsh culture and history, and helped to found the Dafydd ab Gwilym Society at Oxford in 1886. In 1888 he was ordained as a pastor. He served in various churches, published his sermons and theological essays, and wrote articles for a Welsh pacifist periodical (Y Deyrnas) during World War I. He is best remembered today for devising adaptations of Braille to fit the Welsh language--adaptations that apparently remain in use today.

Today, a plaque marks the house where the Rev. Dr. Puleston Jones was raised, in Bala.

A new vocabulary

Kay Olson of the Gimp Parade is reaching a much larger readership now, as a permanent addition to the team at Alas, a Blog. And congratulations to the Alas blog owner on such a fine choice! In the comments stream of her first post, the usual question about language came up--is it disablist to say someone you dislike is "psycho," or to call bad ideas "lame" or "idiotic"? Yeah, it is. Sorry. I know, maybe it seemed cool in high school, but "lame" isn't your best choice. And it's stale, too. Here, for future reference, are some words that might be more precisely descriptive, with the bonus of not involving whole groups of perfectly decent disabled people in your disapproval:

ill-conceived
ill-considered
ill-informed
misguided
narrow
nonsensical
inconsistent
random
scatter-shot
ridiculous
stale
silly
dangerous
off-base
pathetic
disappointing
frustrating
confusing
infuriating
unconvincing
unwise
heedless
reckless

Got more? That list didn't take long to come up with, no thesaurus required. The Friday spelling test is optional.

The Voices

While clicking around the excellent The Voices Recordings map at the BBC site, I lucked onto the dot over Edinburgh. Each dot on the map leads to a page of sound files of people conversing in that place--so you hear Scots women in Ayrshire talking about shoes, or a family of Kentish fishermen talking about the weather, that kind of thing. They're usually talking about language, whether it's quirks of local vocabulary or accents or the power of certain epithets. Anyway, the Edinburgh dot brings you to a page with five sound files of three actors with cerebral palsy, discussing disability terminology and disability culture. James McSharry, Robyn Hunt, and Malawi Logan are the wonderfully candid, articulate, and frank participants--if you get a chance, have a listen. On childhood taunts, for example, McSharry says, "Somewhere along the line, that language creates a stereotype that it's ok to throw a stone at me."