Name calling... names... and terms..

Do you all agree that growing up is exciting and challenging? True, right? But for some, the experience was like in a roller coaster - a ride of highs and lows but sometimes more lows than the norm.

A photo of me seating
in a wheelchair.

When I was a kid, most of my bad moments were because of name callings that other kids did at me. Some kids thought that name calling are fun, others did it because they're bullies and some maybe because they're not happy with me or just maybe did not like me.

I always heard them used the name," Ki-ang" or "Pi-ang", the Filipino Visayan dialect of "Lame or Limping", in Tagalog, " Pilay".  Sure, this was painful. But they were kids and I was a kid. But mind you, there were times also that adults did the same thing. Those were the most hurtful episodes. Yes I did cry a lot, but those moments also made me tougher. 

Now, society tried to use some words to refer people with condition like myself - such as: person with disability,  handicapped, differently abled, or disabled.

I started to use a cane when I
got pregnant for my second
child. In this photo I was three
months pregnant.

To avoid giving offence, the word: disabled is use to describe a person who has a permanent physical condition that limits activities - example: walking and running. The word, handicapped, is referred to both physical and mental disabilities, which is now usually considered offensive.

The term differently abled was used in the 1980s as alternative  of disabled and handicapped, which was supposed to give a more positive message and to avoid discrimination towards people with disabilities. It did not work, however, it has been criticized as too euphemistic and condescending.  

Me and my husband at Port Stanley 

While the word "challenged" - used in compounds like physically challenged or visually challenged, describe disabilities in a more positive way. In the end, accepted term in general use is still "disabled".  In more formal contexts, disabled people are generally described as People with Disabilities.