Language is something that is always changing, and that change is often associated with political response which is an indicator and expression of what people are saying about themselves. Nieto, for example, points out the change from Negro to Black to Afro-American to African American. The term African American versus Black describes a cultural base rather than only color or racial differences (Nieto, 1992, p. 14). In the same way, the fact that the phrase "persons with disabilities" has become widely used, indicating that we are talking first about the person not just using an adjective that negatively defines that person.
One of the dilemmas when writing about and describing people is that they themselves might still describe who they are by a label deemed to be politically outdated. At the same time, not all people from a broad group will use the same terms to describe themselves. It is important, according to Nieto, to be aware of two things when choosing terms:
For example, in writing about a program serving American Indians in South Dakota, I used the term Indian as it was what the people I talked to choose to be called. Similar discussions are true for the terms Hispanics, Chicanos, and Latinos. In addition, the term European American is becoming more widely used as a way of implying culture and generally a set of values and behaviors rooted in a western European tradition. Again, this is not to say that all European Americans, African Americans, American Indians or any of the other ethnic groups that inhabit this country, all have the same values or beliefs, but to identify different groups within a wide category that reflects some of the similarities they experience within society. It is difficult to capture all about a person through language but it is important when describing people to be aware of the language we use even though it changes and unfolds as rapidly as does the subject matter discussed.
Often terms do not, according to Peters (1986), come from the community itself but rather are imposed from outside, or are definitions from social service systems or medical professionals. She suggests that words like physically challenged, handicapable, and handicapper are imposed and that maybe the reason there is not a language that feels right is because there is not yet a movement that feels right (p. 22).
As language develops there is no agreement on which terms are
offensive, no one term universally accepted. Some believe there
are larger issues to overcome and still others that language roots
perceptions and they are willing to go to great lengths to work
toward more positive language (The Disability Rag, 1990). Language
evolves as our understandings evolve and it becomes a political as
well as a personal tool to help both groups of people and
individuals represent themselves instead of continuing to be
interpreted by others.