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Lift broken in rented office with wheelchair bound employee

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Comments

  • googler
    googler Posts: 16,103 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    edited 13 August 2010 at 10:54PM
    OK, so you're going to resort to base insults, rather than give me a reasoned analysis of the various terms that I asked about.....?

    I'd really like to know. I can't fathom your logic, and I want to know what's behind it. Explain to me, please, why 'wheelchair user' may be 'correct usage' (if that's one of your acceptable terms) and 'wheelchair-bound' isn't ???
  • Judith_W
    Judith_W Posts: 754 Forumite
    wheelchair user indicated the individual is using the wheelchair as a tool / aid. Wheelchair-bound makes it sound as they are restricted to a wheelchair - the wheelchair dictates their life. It is simply the fact that is sounds more negative
  • Alan2020 wrote: »
    Not sued directly for it, but say if you mentioned in an email, wheelchair bound, and the employee was made redundant or not promoted and they took the employer to court, things like this can be viewed dimly. Apart from that if the employee took offence they can sue the employer for discrimination, similar to say calling someone fat etc

    According to my OH (he's an employment law barrister) he cannot think of any possible way in whcih "wheelchair bound" would be disability discrimination within the meaning of the 1995 Act. "Taking offence" is not a legal definition of "discrimination", by the way.
    ...much enquiry having been made concerning a gentleman, who had quitted a company where Johnson was, and no information being obtained; at last Johnson observed, that 'he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney'.
  • Alan2020 wrote: »
    I was pointing out from my own working with disabled people and do as you please if you want to be an ignorant person and just argue for arguments sake. Many people have told you the correct usage and I am not going to repeat myself to a callous person like you.

    callous? get over yourself, do!
    ...much enquiry having been made concerning a gentleman, who had quitted a company where Johnson was, and no information being obtained; at last Johnson observed, that 'he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney'.
  • Judith_W wrote: »
    wheelchair user indicated the individual is using the wheelchair as a tool / aid. Wheelchair-bound makes it sound as they are restricted to a wheelchair - the wheelchair dictates their life. It is simply the fact that is sounds more negative

    Less accurate, too. A wheelchair user may be able to walk short distances.
    ...much enquiry having been made concerning a gentleman, who had quitted a company where Johnson was, and no information being obtained; at last Johnson observed, that 'he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney'.
  • Alan2020
    Alan2020 Posts: 518 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper
    According to my OH (he's an employment law barrister) he cannot think of any possible way in whcih "wheelchair bound" would be disability discrimination within the meaning of the 1995 Act. "Taking offence" is not a legal definition of "discrimination", by the way.
    I don't know details about the law as I am not a lawyer, but in almost all big workplaces and government offices it is considered a derogatory term and in their HR guidelines, a random example is http://www.scips.worc.ac.uk/etiquette.html

    There are lots more you can find. Personally I wouldn't use a word that is considered rude as that's me :beer:
  • Alan2020
    Alan2020 Posts: 518 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper
    callous? get over yourself, do!

    No I think I had already explained and pointed them to a thread where a wheel chair user explains why it is derogatory and I am not going to be arguing about it. Most of the educated world accepts its derogatory, this is like the lady on TV insisting Paki is the short form of Pakistani and not derogatory. I would assume an adult not understanding why it would hurt someone's feeling is either callous or a Psychopath (for which there is sadly no cure and has no feeling of love or hurt).
  • And a lot of disabled people also use the term "wheelchair bound" about themselves and others. I don't accept that "cripple" or "Paki" are comparable terms.
    ...much enquiry having been made concerning a gentleman, who had quitted a company where Johnson was, and no information being obtained; at last Johnson observed, that 'he did not care to speak ill of any man behind his back, but he believed the gentleman was an attorney'.
  • googler
    googler Posts: 16,103 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Judith_W wrote: »
    wheelchair user indicated the individual is using the wheelchair as a tool / aid. Wheelchair-bound makes it sound as they are restricted to a wheelchair - the wheelchair dictates their life. It is simply the fact that is sounds more negative

    ...but they ARE restricted to the wheelchair from the point of view of getting around, and making their way to and from the exits of the building, which is the context we're talking about here.

    Comparisons with terms such as 'Paki', 'Dago' and 'Spic' are meaningless - nobody goes up to a person in a wheelchair and says "Oi- you wheelchair-bound **** ", do they?

    In the context of referring, perhaps in an H&S report, or in correspondence (which again, is the context discussed here) on the ability of the workforce to get to the exits in an emergency, why is it felt that referring to one or more of the workforce as 'wheelchair-bound' is derogatory or perjorative?
  • googler
    googler Posts: 16,103 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Alan2020 wrote: »
    No I think I had already explained and pointed them to a thread where a wheel chair user explains why it is derogatory and I am not going to be arguing about it. Most of the educated world accepts its derogatory, this is like the lady on TV insisting Paki is the short form of Pakistani and not derogatory. I would assume an adult not understanding why it would hurt someone's feeling is either callous or a Psychopath (for which there is sadly no cure and has no feeling of love or hurt).

    I'm asking you to tell me why it's seen as derogatory when used in a detached, professional way to differentiate one sector of the workforce from another solely in relation to their abilities to clear the building in an emergency.

    References to those from Pakistan, and abbreviated forms thereof aren't relevant to this - it's not a valid comparison
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