Wheelchair user versus wheelchair bound

Using the correct terminology in this day and age is very much in demand, less you want to fall-out with people for being politically incorrect. Peter Tan highlighted in his recent blog entry that people using wheelchairs are not wheelchair bound.

I have often heard this term "wheelchair bound", and for the more enlightened wheelchair user, they get pretty upset with this terminology. It depicts an image of a dependent person who cannot do things for him/herself and is confined to the wheelchair. The term solidifies the myth of someone inactive, depraved and useless enshrined and encaptured with this word "wheelchair bound".

The debate goes on, and even the word "disabled" is regarded to be backward and defining a "negative connoctation to the ability of a person". I remembered an Indonesian colleague who never use the word "disabled" ever again, but rather would use the word "diffabled" (Differently Abled). I think perhaps that is where you get "Kelainan Upaya" from, rather than "Kurang Upaya", the official Malay version of a disabled person. It is often a cultural phenomenon, when we find some words in Malay defined and sounding worst than it is in English.

One would ask why would you use "diffabled" rather than disabled. Or in Malay one could ask, "Apa yang kelainannya?" (What's the difference?). I could give an argument that disabled people are different than able bodied people, because of their different experiences in life unique to them, and thus being able to have a different set of skills, as a result.

Take the example of blind people and/or vision-impaired persons. I noticed while interacting with at least four blind persons before in training sessions, they are able to "see in patterns". This different ability has been able to make them quick to the mark when connecting ideas and concepts in their minds. Quicker than sighted persons. (This ability could be debated to be "visual-thinking", but I think we should research it more.)

Emotionally people who have been physically disabled since childhood have the ability to be "not caring what people think of them", and this emotional strength gives an edge when facing with discrimination. This gives the effect of being able to contain emotional setbacks better than able bodied people.

Of course, the things I have mentioned are for the more enlightened ones, as there are disabled people that need to unshackle their setbacks from their minds, like similar able bodied people.

If you want to expand more knowledge on the issue, there is an excellent website with interesting articles, although written academically, the articles provide the background research to terms and terminologies. (See link)