Society and culture influence the words that we speak, and the words that we speak influence society

and culture. Such a cyclical relationship can be difficult to understand, but many of the examples

throughout this chapter and examples from our own lives help illustrate this point. One of the best

ways to learn about society, culture, and language is to seek out opportunities to go beyond our

typical comfort zones. Studying abroad, for example, brings many challenges that can turn into

valuable lessons. The following example of such a lesson comes from my friend who studied abroad

in Vienna, Austria.

Although English used to employ formal (thou, thee) and informal pronouns (you), today you can be

used when speaking to a professor, a parent, or a casual acquaintance. Other languages still have

social norms and rules about who is to be referred to informally and formally. My friend, as was

typical in the German language, referred to his professor with the formal pronoun Sie but used the

informal pronoun Du with his fellow students since they were peers. When the professor invited

some of the American exchange students to dinner, they didn’t know they were about to participate

in a cultural ritual that would change the way they spoke to their professor from that night on. Their

professor informed them that they were going to duzen, which meant they were going to now be able

to refer to her with the informal pronoun—an honor and sign of closeness for the American students.

As they went around the table, each student introduced himself or herself to the professor using the

formal pronoun, locked arms with her and drank (similar to the champagne toast ritual at some

wedding ceremonies), and reintroduced himself or herself using the informal pronoun. For the rest

of the semester, the American students still respectfully referred to the professor with her title, which

translated to “Mrs. Doctor,” but used informal pronouns, even in class, while the other students not

included in the ceremony had to continue using the formal. Given that we do not use formal and

informal pronouns in English anymore, there is no equivalent ritual to the German duzen, but as we

will learn next, there are many rituals in English that may be just as foreign to someone else.

Language and Social Context

We arrive at meaning through conversational interaction, which follows many social

norms and rules. As we’ve already learned, rules are explicitly stated conventions (“Look
at me when I’m talking to you.”) and norms are implicit (saying you’ve got to leave
before you actually do to politely initiate the end to a conversation). To help
conversations function meaningfully, we have learned social norms and internalized
them to such an extent that we do not often consciously enact them. Instead, we rely on
routines and roles (as determined by social forces) to help us proceed with verbal
interaction, which also helps determine how a conversation will unfold. Our various
social roles influence meaning and how we speak. For example, a person may say, “As a
longtime member of this community…” or “As a first-generation college student…” Such
statements cue others into the personal and social context from which we are speaking,
which helps them better interpret our meaning.

One social norm that structures our communication is turn taking. People need to feel
like they are contributing something to an interaction, so turn taking is a central part of
how conversations play out.David Crystal, How Language Works: How Babies Babble,
Words Change Meaning, and Languages Live or Die (Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press,
2005), 155. Although we sometimes talk at the same time as others or interrupt them,
there are numerous verbal and nonverbal cues, almost like a dance, that are exchanged
between speakers that let people know when their turn will begin or end. Conversations
do not always neatly progress from beginning to end with shared understanding along
the way. There is a back and forth that is often verbally managed through rephrasing
(“Let me try that again,”) and clarification (“Does that make sense?”)David
Crystal, How Language Works: How Babies Babble, Words Change Meaning, and
Languages Live or Die (Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press, 2005), 268.

We also have certain units of speech that facilitate turn taking. Adjacency pairs are
related communication structures that come one after the other (adjacent to each other)
in an interaction.David Crystal, How Language Works: How Babies Babble, Words
Change Meaning, and Languages Live or Die (Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press, 2005),
277. For example, questions are followed by answers, greetings are followed by
responses, compliments are followed by a thank you, and informative comments are
followed by an acknowledgment. These are the skeletal components that make up our
verbal interactions, and they are largely social in that they facilitate our interactions.
When these sequences don’t work out, confusion, miscommunication, or frustration
may result, as you can see in the following sequences:

Travis: “How are you?”

Wanda: “Did someone tell you I’m sick?”
“I just wanted to let you know the meeting has been moved to three
Darrell:
o’clock.”
Leigh: “I had cake for breakfast this morning.”

Some conversational elements are highly scripted or ritualized, especially the beginning
and end of an exchange and topic changes.David Crystal, How Language Works: How
Babies Babble, Words Change Meaning, and Languages Live or Die (Woodstock, NY:
Overlook Press, 2005), 268. Conversations often begin with a standard greeting and
then proceed to “safe” exchanges about things in the immediate field of experience of
the communicators (a comment on the weather or noting something going on in the
scene). At this point, once the ice is broken, people can move on to other more content-
specific exchanges. Once conversing, before we can initiate a topic change, it is a social
norm that we let the current topic being discussed play itself out or continue until the
person who introduced the topic seems satisfied. We then usually try to find a relevant
tie-in or segue that acknowledges the previous topic, in turn acknowledging the speaker,
before actually moving on. Changing the topic without following such social conventions
might indicate to the other person that you were not listening or are simply rude.
Social norms influence how conversations start and end and how speakers take turns to keep
the conversation going.

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Ending a conversation is similarly complex. I’m sure we’ve all been in a situation where
we are “trapped” in a conversation that we need or want to get out of. Just walking away
or ending a conversation without engaging in socially acceptable “leave-taking
behaviors” would be considered a breach of social norms. Topic changes are often places
where people can leave a conversation, but it is still routine for us to give a special
reason for leaving, often in an apologetic tone (whether we mean it or not). Generally
though, conversations come to an end through the cooperation of both people, as they
offer and recognize typical signals that a topic area has been satisfactorily covered or
that one or both people need to leave. It is customary in the United States for people to
say they have to leave before they actually do and for that statement to be dismissed or
ignored by the other person until additional leave-taking behaviors are enacted. When
such cooperation is lacking, an awkward silence or abrupt ending can result, and as
we’ve already learned, US Americans are not big fans of silence. Silence is not viewed
the same way in other cultures, which leads us to our discussion of cultural context.

Language and Cultural Context

Culture isn’t solely determined by a person’s native language or nationality. It’s true that
languages vary by country and region and that the language we speak influences our
realities, but even people who speak the same language experience cultural differences
because of their various intersecting cultural identities and personal experiences. We
have a tendency to view our language as a whole more favorably than other languages.
Although people may make persuasive arguments regarding which languages are more
pleasing to the ear or difficult or easy to learn than others, no one language enables
speakers to communicate more effectively than another.Steven McCornack, Reflect and
Relate: An Introduction to Interpersonal Communication (Boston, MA: Bedford/St
Martin’s, 2007), 224–25.

From birth we are socialized into our various cultural identities. As with the social
context, this acculturation process is a combination of explicit and implicit lessons. A
child in Colombia, which is considered a more collectivist country in which people value
group membership and cohesion over individualism, may not be explicitly told, “You are
a member of a collectivistic culture, so you should care more about the family and
community than yourself.” This cultural value would be transmitted through daily
actions and through language use. Just as babies acquire knowledge of language
practices at an astonishing rate in their first two years of life, so do they acquire cultural
knowledge and values that are embedded in those language practices. At nine months
old, it is possible to distinguish babies based on their language. Even at this early stage
of development, when most babies are babbling and just learning to recognize but not
wholly reproduce verbal interaction patterns, a Colombian baby would sound different
from a Brazilian baby, even though neither would actually be using words from their
native languages of Spanish and Portuguese.David Crystal, How Language Works:
How Babies Babble, Words Change Meaning, and Languages Live or Die (Woodstock,
NY: Overlook Press, 2005), 84.

The actual language we speak plays an important role in shaping our reality. Comparing
languages, we can see differences in how we are able to talk about the world. In English,
we have the words grandfather and grandmother, but no single word that distinguishes
between a maternal grandfather and a paternal grandfather. But in Swedish, there’s a
specific word for each grandparent: morfar is mother’s father, farfar is father’s
father, farmor is father’s mother, and mormor is mother’s mother.David Crystal, How
Language Works: How Babies Babble, Words Change Meaning, and Languages Live
or Die (Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press, 2005), 188. In this example, we can see that the
words available to us, based on the language we speak, influence how we talk about the
world due to differences in and limitations of vocabulary. The notion that language
shapes our view of reality and our cultural patterns is best represented by the Sapir-
Whorf hypothesis. Although some scholars argue that our reality is determined by our
language, we will take a more qualified view and presume that language plays a central
role in influencing our realities but doesn’t determine them.Judith N. Martin and
Thomas K. Nakayama, Intercultural Communication in Contexts, 5th ed. (Boston, MA:
McGraw-Hill, 2010), 222–24.

Culturally influenced differences in language and meaning can lead to some interesting
encounters, ranging from awkward to informative to disastrous. In terms of
awkwardness, you have likely heard stories of companies that failed to exhibit
communication competence in their naming and/or advertising of products in another
language. For example, in Taiwan, Pepsi used the slogan “Come Alive with Pepsi” only to
later find out that when translated it meant, “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the
dead.”“Results of Poor Cross Cultural Awareness,” Kwintessential Limited, accessed
June 7, 2012, http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/cultural-services/articles/Results of
Poor Cross Cultural Awareness.html. Similarly, American Motors introduced a new car
called the Matador to the Puerto Rico market only to learn that Matador means “killer,”
which wasn’t very comforting to potential buyers.“Cross Cultural Business
Blunders,” Kwintessential Limited, accessed June 7,
2012, http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/cultural-services/articles/crosscultural-
blunders.html. At a more informative level, the words we use to give positive
reinforcement are culturally relative. In the United States and England, parents
commonly positively and negatively reinforce their child’s behavior by saying, “Good
girl” or “Good boy.” There isn’t an equivalent for such a phrase in other European
languages, so the usage in only these two countries has been traced back to the puritan
influence on beliefs about good and bad behavior.Anna Wierzbicka, “The English
Expressions Good Boy and Good Girl and Cultural Models of Child Rearing,” Culture
and Psychology 10, no. 3 (2004): 251–78. In terms of disastrous consequences, one of
the most publicized and deadliest cross-cultural business mistakes occurred in India in
1984. Union Carbide, an American company, controlled a plant used to make pesticides.
The company underestimated the amount of cross-cultural training that would be
needed to allow the local workers, many of whom were not familiar with the technology
or language/jargon used in the instructions for plant operations to do their jobs. This
lack of competent communication led to a gas leak that immediately killed more than
two thousand people and over time led to more than five hundred thousand
injuries.Subodh Varma, “Arbitrary? 92% of All Injuries Termed Minor,” The Times of
India, June 20, 2010, accessed June 7,
2012, http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-06-
20/india/28309628_1_injuries-gases-cases.

Accents and Dialects

The documentary American Tongues, although dated at this point, is still a fascinating

look at the rich tapestry of accents and dialects that makes up American
English. Dialects are versions of languages that have distinct words, grammar, and
pronunciation. Accents are distinct styles of pronunciation.Myron W. Lustig and Jolene
Koester, Intercultural Competence: Interpersonal Communication across Cultures,
2nd ed. (Boston, MA: Pearson, 2006), 199–200. There can be multiple accents within
one dialect. For example, people in the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United
States speak a dialect of American English that is characterized by remnants of the
linguistic styles of Europeans who settled the area a couple hundred years earlier. Even
though they speak this similar dialect, a person in Kentucky could still have an accent
that is distinguishable from a person in western North Carolina.
American English has several dialects that vary based on region, class, and ancestry.

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Dialects and accents can vary by region, class, or ancestry, and they influence the
impressions that we make of others. When I moved to Colorado from North Carolina, I
was met with a very strange look when I used the word buggy to refer to a shopping
cart. Research shows that people tend to think more positively about others who speak
with a dialect similar to their own and think more negatively about people who speak
differently. Of course, many people think they speak normally and perceive others to
have an accent or dialect. Although dialects include the use of different words and
phrases, it’s the tone of voice that often creates the strongest impression. For example, a
person who speaks with a Southern accent may perceive a New Englander’s accent to be
grating, harsh, or rude because the pitch is more nasal and the rate faster. Conversely, a
New Englander may perceive a Southerner’s accent to be syrupy and slow, leading to an
impression that the person speaking is uneducated.

Customs and Norms

Social norms are culturally relative. The words used in politeness rituals in one culture
can mean something completely different in another. For example, thank you in
American English acknowledges receiving something (a gift, a favor, a compliment), in
British English it can mean “yes” similar to American English’s yes, please, and in
French merci can mean “no” as in “no, thank you.”David Crystal, How Language
Works: How Babies Babble, Words Change Meaning, and Languages Live or
Die (Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press, 2005), 276. Additionally, what is considered a
powerful language style varies from culture to culture. Confrontational language, such
as swearing, can be seen as powerful in Western cultures, even though it violates some
language taboos, but would be seen as immature and weak in Japan.Patricia J. Wetzel,
“Are ‘Powerless’ Communication Strategies the Japanese Norm?” Language in
Society 17, no. 4 (1988): 555–64.

Gender also affects how we use language, but not to the extent that most people think.
Although there is a widespread belief that men are more likely to communicate in a clear
and straightforward way and women are more likely to communicate in an emotional
and indirect way, a meta-analysis of research findings from more than two hundred
studies found only small differences in the personal disclosures of men and
women.Kathryn Dindia and Mike Allen, “Sex Differences in Self-Disclosure: A Meta
Analysis,” Psychological Bulletin 112, no. 1 (1992): 106–24. Men and women’s levels of
disclosure are even more similar when engaging in cross-gender communication,
meaning men and woman are more similar when speaking to each other than when men
speak to men or women speak to women. This could be due to the internalized pressure
to speak about the other gender in socially sanctioned ways, in essence reinforcing the
stereotypes when speaking to the same gender but challenging them in cross-gender
encounters. Researchers also dispelled the belief that men interrupt more than women
do, finding that men and women interrupt each other with similar frequency in cross-
gender encounters.Kathryn Dindia, “The Effect of Sex of Subject and Sex of Partner on
Interruptions,” Human Communication Research 13, no. 3 (1987): 345–71. These
findings, which state that men and women communicate more similarly during cross-
gender encounters and then communicate in more stereotypical ways in same-gender
encounters, can be explained with communication accommodation theory.

Communication Accommodation and Code-Switching

Communication accommodation theory is a theory that explores why and how people
modify their communication to fit situational, social, cultural, and relational
contexts.Howard Giles, Donald M. Taylor, and Richard Bourhis, “Toward a Theory of
Interpersonal Accommodation through Language: Some Canadian Data,” Language
and Society 2, no. 2 (1973): 177–92. Within communication accommodation,
conversational partners may use convergence, meaning a person makes his or her
communication more like another person’s. People who are accommodating in their
communication style are seen as more competent, which illustrates the benefits of
communicative flexibility. In order to be flexible, of course, people have to be aware of
and monitor their own and others’ communication patterns. Conversely, conversational
partners may use divergence, meaning a person uses communication to emphasize the
differences between his or her conversational partner and his or herself.

Convergence and divergence can take place within the same conversation and may be
used by one or both conversational partners. Convergence functions to make others feel
at ease, to increase understanding, and to enhance social bonds. Divergence may be
used to intentionally make another person feel unwelcome or perhaps to highlight a
personal, group, or cultural identity. For example, African American women use certain
verbal communication patterns when communicating with other African American
women as a way to highlight their racial identity and create group solidarity. In
situations where multiple races interact, the women usually don’t use those same
patterns, instead accommodating the language patterns of the larger group. While
communication accommodation might involve anything from adjusting how fast or slow
you talk to how long you speak during each turn, code-switching refers to changes in
accent, dialect, or language.Judith N. Martin and Thomas K. Nakayama, Intercultural
Communication in Contexts, 5th ed. (Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2010), 249. There are
many reasons that people might code-switch. Regarding accents, some people hire vocal
coaches or speech-language pathologists to help them alter their accent. If a Southern
person thinks their accent is leading others to form unfavorable impressions, they can
consciously change their accent with much practice and effort. Once their ability to
speak without their Southern accent is honed, they may be able to switch very quickly
between their native accent when speaking with friends and family and their modified
accent when speaking in professional settings.
People who work or live in multilingual settings may engage in code-switching several times a
day.

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Additionally, people who work or live in multilingual settings may code-switch many
times throughout the day, or even within a single conversation. Increasing outsourcing
and globalization have produced heightened pressures for code-switching. Call center
workers in India have faced strong negative reactions from British and American
customers who insist on “speaking to someone who speaks English.” Although many
Indians learn English in schools as a result of British colonization, their accents prove to
be off-putting to people who want to get their cable package changed or book an airline
ticket. Now some Indian call center workers are going through intense training to be
able to code-switch and accommodate the speaking style of their customers. What is
being called the “Anglo-Americanization of India” entails “accent-neutralization,”
lessons on American culture (using things like Sex and the City DVDs), and the use of
Anglo-American-sounding names like Sean and Peggy.Amitabh Pal, “Indian by Day,
American by Night,” The Progressive, August 2004, accessed June 7,
2012, http://www.progressive.org/mag_pal0804. As our interactions continue to occur
in more multinational contexts, the expectations for code-switching and
accommodation are sure to increase. It is important for us to consider the intersection of
culture and power and think critically about the ways in which expectations for code-
switching may be based on cultural biases.

Language and Cultural Bias

In the previous example about code-switching and communication accommodation in

Indian call centers, the move toward accent neutralization is a response to the “racist
abuse” these workers receive from customers.Shehzad Nadeem, “Accent Neutralisation
and a Crisis of Identity in India’s Call Centres,” The Guardian, February 9, 2011,
accessed June 7, 2012, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/09/india-
call-centres-accent-neutralisation. Anger in Western countries about job losses and
economic uncertainty has increased the amount of racially targeted verbal attacks on
international call center employees. It was recently reported that more call center
workers are now quitting their jobs as a result of the verbal abuse and that 25 percent of
workers who have recently quit say such abuse was a major source of stress.Amelia
Gentleman, “Indiana Call Staff Quit over Abuse on the Line,” The Guardian, May 28,
2005, accessed June 7,
2012, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/may/29/india.ameliagentleman. Such
verbal attacks are not new; they represent a common but negative way that cultural bias
explicitly manifests in our language use.

Cultural bias is a skewed way of viewing or talking about a group that is typically
negative. Bias has a way of creeping into our daily language use, often under our
awareness. Culturally biased language can make reference to one or more cultural
identities, including race, gender, age, sexual orientation, and ability. There are other
sociocultural identities that can be the subject of biased language, but we will focus our
discussion on these five. Much biased language is based on stereotypes and myths that
influence the words we use. Bias is both intentional and unintentional, but as we’ve
already discussed, we have to be accountable for what we say even if we didn’t “intend” a
particular meaning—remember, meaning is generated; it doesn’t exist inside our
thoughts or words. We will discuss specific ways in which cultural bias manifests in our
language and ways to become more aware of bias. Becoming aware of and addressing
cultural bias is not the same thing as engaging in “political correctness.” Political
correctness takes awareness to the extreme but doesn’t do much to address cultural bias
aside from make people feel like they are walking on eggshells. That kind of pressure can
lead people to avoid discussions about cultural identities or avoid people with different
cultural identities. Our goal is not to eliminate all cultural bias from verbal
communication or to never offend anyone, intentionally or otherwise. Instead, we will
continue to use guidelines for ethical communication that we have already discussed
and strive to increase our competence. The following discussion also focuses on bias
rather than preferred terminology or outright discriminatory language, which will be
addressed more in Chapter 8 "Culture and Communication", which discusses culture
and communication.

Race

People sometimes use euphemisms for race that illustrate bias because the terms are
usually implicitly compared to the dominant group.Publication Manual of the
American Psychological Association, 6th ed. (Washington, DC: American Psychological
Association, 2010), 71–76. For example, referring to a person as “urban” or a
neighborhood as “inner city” can be an accurate descriptor, but when such words are
used as a substitute for racial identity, they illustrate cultural biases that equate certain
races with cities and poverty. Using adjectives like articulate or well-dressed in
statements like “My black coworker is articulate” reinforces negative stereotypes even
though these words are typically viewed as positive. Terms like nonwhite set up
whiteness as the norm, which implies that white people are the norm against which all
other races should be compared. Biased language also reduces the diversity within
certain racial groups—for example, referring to anyone who looks like they are of Asian
descent as Chinese or everyone who “looks” Latino/a as Mexicans. Some people with
racial identities other than white, including people who are multiracial, use the
label person/people of color to indicate solidarity among groups, but it is likely that they
still prefer a more specific label when referring to an individual or referencing a specific
racial group.

Gender

Language has a tendency to exaggerate perceived and stereotypical differences between

men and women. The use of the term opposite sex presumes that men and women are
opposites, like positive and negative poles of a magnet, which is obviously not true or
men and women wouldn’t be able to have successful interactions or relationships. A
term like other gender doesn’t presume opposites and acknowledges that male and
female identities and communication are more influenced by gender, which is the social
and cultural meanings and norms associated with males and females, than sex, which is
the physiology and genetic makeup of a male and female. One key to avoiding gendered
bias in language is to avoid the generic use of he when referring to something relevant to
males and females. Instead, you can informally use a gender-neutral pronoun
like they or their or you can use his or her.Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association, 6th ed. (Washington, DC: American Psychological
Association, 2010), 71–76. When giving a series of examples, you can alternate usage of
masculine and feminine pronouns, switching with each example. We have lasting
gendered associations with certain occupations that have tended to be male or female
dominated, which erase the presence of both genders. Other words reflect the general
masculine bias present in English. The following word pairs show the gender-biased
term followed by an unbiased term: waitress/server, chairman / chair or chairperson,
mankind/people, cameraman / camera operator, mailman / postal worker,
sportsmanship / fair play. Common language practices also tend to infantilize women
but not men, when, for example, women are referred to as chicks, girls, or babes. Since
there is no linguistic equivalent that indicates the marital status of men before their
name, using Ms. instead of Miss or Mrs. helps reduce bias.

Age

Language that includes age bias can be directed toward older or younger people.
Descriptions of younger people often presume recklessness or inexperience, while those
of older people presume frailty or disconnection. The term elderly generally refers to
people over sixty-five, but it has connotations of weakness, which isn’t accurate because
there are plenty of people over sixty-five who are stronger and more athletic than people
in their twenties and thirties. Even though it’s generic, older people doesn’t really have
negative implications. More specific words that describe groups of older people
include grandmothers/grandfathers (even though they can be fairly young
too), retirees, or people over sixty-five.Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association, 6th ed. (Washington, DC: American Psychological
Association, 2010), 71–76. Referring to people over the age of eighteen
as boys or girls isn’t typically viewed as appropriate.
Age bias can appear in language directed toward younger or older people.

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Sexual Orientation

Discussions of sexual and affectional orientation range from everyday conversations to

contentious political and personal debates. The negative stereotypes that have been
associated with homosexuality, including deviance, mental illness, and criminal
behavior, continue to influence our language use.“Supplemental Material: Writing
Clearly and Concisely,” American Psychological Association, accessed June 7,
2012, http://www.apastyle.org/manual/supplement/redirects/pubman-ch03.13.aspx. T
erminology related to gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) people can be confusing, so let’s
spend some time raise our awareness about preferred labels. First, sexual orientation is
the term preferred to sexual preference. Preference suggests a voluntary choice, as in
someone has a preference for cheddar or American cheese, which doesn’t reflect the
experience of most GLB people or research findings that show sexuality is more
complex. You may also see affectional orientation included with sexual
orientation because it acknowledges that GLB relationships, like heterosexual
relationships, are about intimacy and closeness (affection) that is not just sexually
based. Most people also prefer the labels gay, lesbian, or bisexual to homosexual, which
is clinical and doesn’t so much refer to an identity as a sex act. Language regarding
romantic relationships contains bias when heterosexuality is assumed. Keep in mind
that individuals are not allowed to marry someone of the same gender in most states in
the United States. For example, if you ask a gay man who has been in a committed
partnership for ten years if he is “married or single,” how should he answer that
question? Comments comparing GLB people to “normal” people, although possibly
intended to be positive, reinforces the stereotype that GLB people are abnormal. Don’t
presume you can identify a person’s sexual orientation by looking at them or talking to
them. Don’t assume that GLB people will “come out” to you. Given that many GLB
people have faced and continue to face regular discrimination, they may be cautious
about disclosing their identities. However, using gender neutral terminology
like partner and avoiding other biased language mentioned previously may create a
climate in which a GLB person feels comfortable disclosing his or her sexual orientation
identity. Conversely, the casual use of phrases like that’s gay to mean “that’s stupid”
may create an environment in which GLB people do not feel comfortable. Even though
people don’t often use the phrase to actually refer to sexual orientation, campaigns like
“ThinkB4YouSpeak.com” try to educate people about the power that language has and
how we should all be more conscious of the words we use.

Ability

People with disabilities make up a diverse group that has increasingly come to be viewed
as a cultural/social identity group. People without disabilities are often referred to
as able-bodied. As with sexual orientation, comparing people with disabilities to
“normal” people implies that there is an agreed-on definition of what “normal” is and
that people with disabilities are “abnormal.” Disability is also preferred to the
word handicap. Just because someone is disabled doesn’t mean he or she is also
handicapped. The environment around them rather than their disability often handicaps
people with disabilities.Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association,
6th ed. (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2010), 71–76. Ignoring
the environment as the source of a handicap and placing it on the person fits into a
pattern of reducing people with disabilities to their disability—for example, calling
someone a paraplegic instead of a person with paraplegia. In many cases, as with sexual
orientation, race, age, and gender, verbally marking a person as disabled isn’t relevant
and doesn’t need spotlighting. Language used in conjunction with disabilities also tends
to portray people as victims of their disability and paint pictures of their lives as gloomy,
dreadful, or painful. Such descriptors are often generalizations or completely inaccurate.