Can Someone Please Explain Politically Correct to Me?

"Hearing impaired" sounds MUCH better to me than "hard of hearing" or "deaf". The country and its "political correctness" is just going to hell in a handbasket. Enough already! UGH!!!!!

I dont get it either. People with dwarfism prefer to be called "Midgets" or "dwarfs" and not "little people"........personally i would rather be called a "little person"

Political correctness is just an excuse for most people to get offended and push their own title out there.....Most of the time...

I never mind being called things.
cracker....honkey....
house frau.... lay it on me

Sounds like you ran into an idiot - I wouldn't sweat it.

I am probably the most politically incorrect person I know. I have found that people with disabilities, minorities, etc. are often more annoyed about people tiptoeing around them, and being afraid to talk to them, than they are about someone using the wrong term. When I was in the air force, I hung out with a predominantly black group. We were talking about this very subject when I asked what they preferred (Black? African-American? What?) to be called as far as political correctness goes... Their response? "I couldn't care less, as long as it's not the N word." My midget SIL? She doesn't care either. Call her midget, dwarf, little person, it doesn't matter. The deaf (and other hearing-impaired) kids my fiance used to work with once in a while? They were never offended by being called one or the other.

If I happen to 'offend' someone... well, then they are just too uptight... they need to pull the stick outta their butt and calm down. Unless someone is being purposely derogatory with the word (I.E..."that freakin' gay dude") I don't think people should take offense.

It seems to me like it should be the intention behind the word, not the word itself. "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet"... right?

was she a social worker? We actually had this conversation in my social work classes. There is a big push to start doing what is called "person first" talking. For example, it's not a disabled person, it's a person with a disability, or not a gay person, but a person who is gay. The point of it all is so that people are not looked at as only their disability, sexual orientation, skin color, etc. but as an individual person first (with so many more components to their character) who happens to have one of their many characteristics be ______. I know to many of us it seems extreme, but if you think about it, it makes sense. I mean no one says "You know that hearing person" when they are describing people who can hear, but they will automatically say "You that deaf person." Most of us don't like to be placed into one individual category, but the way we communicate, we tend to automatically do it. That is how it could be found offensive to not talk that way. You are labeling them differently from a "normal" person. This helps to change how we communicate about people as we are identifying the person first and not looking at them with so much emphasis on that one characteristic. (Take with it what you will, I'm just saying that I can get doing person first talking as a way to start breaking away from labels and such of people).

Now with that being said, it sounds like in your situation, she was saying it's offensive to say the word "impaired" when describing a person with a hearing impairment. Personally, I think she's just taking it to the extreme and isn't even being "politically correct" but just more so nit-picky. Also, I don't know why anyone would correct how someone chooses to describe and talk about their own son. MAYBE I could understand if you guys were talking about someone totally unrelated and she felt the need to emphasize a different form of communicating, but it's your son. I agree with the other poster. She's probably just being dumb.

This is why my husband can never run for office. I am not very politically correct and I would blurt out something offensive to someone. There are times on here I have to erase whole posts.

You are fine calling your son hearing impaired. I call mine hearing deficient, it's not a diagnosis, it's just because he had so many ear infections there are some sounds he still does not recognize. He also knows I say this and is not offended.

Here's a story about political correctness.
I used to work at Macy's.
So I am in the junior section and this gal starts trying on clothes. She was a little heavy.
She comes out with this outfit that just does not look good. She says to me,
"What do you think?"
OMG She looked like a porpoise. So I told her, those don't fit, you look like a stuffed sausage. .
She goes on to say Oh you don't like it because the hat right? Thank god she was dense. I corrected myself and said Oh yes the hat does not do anything for the outfit.
AH I have got to learn to always keep my opinions to myself.

That's taking political correctness to a whole new (absurd) level. Hopefully you will teach your son to be a little thicker-skinned than all that.

I'm personally getting REALLY tired of political correctness.

Oh geez!
Whatever.

Hearing impaired is fine to me.
How the hell, can we all go around talking and writing to please everyone all the time in the whole world?
That is like, censorship.

It is your son. You are his Mom.
He is hearing impaired. That is what you say and I see nothing wrong with that.
It is a description. Not a 'label.'

Taking it further:
would you say "I am American." or, "I am a person of the country of America"?????
Or, "I am a person of the USA, of which I reside."
Or, "She is an American" or "that is a person who has residency in the country of America" ????

Why can't, anyone say the word "am" or "is" in describing someone????

I find it so.... exhausting, to think, that we all have to write and think and talk... to please other people ALL of the time, but cannot even, say what "we" meant to say, by our own selves and sensitivities for our own selves or child or family.

I used to work at Social Services agency. It got, really tiring & aggravating, of always having to be on top of what is politically correct or not, and pretty much, just chatting with anyone was impossible because there was ALWAYS an outdated or newer way to say something. THEN, you'd be told "you can't say that....shhh...." etc.
When you have to walk on egg-shells and tiptoe around and cannot even say something that is otherwise normal, it is really impossible to even communicate in the spoken or written word.
Then... what is PC or censorship?

Have you heard? Of how some people want ALL of the classic childhood books 'corrected' and made into PC language????
Pretty soon, no one will have a gender or a personality or a real story to tell.
Anywhere.
Even here.

Geez.

ugh, who even knows, it seems to change daily...IMO, as long as you are not using a slur (racial, sexual orientation, gender, etc.) and you mean no harm, then just speak naturally. Some people are offended by the wind...

Geez, once I had someone who, when they found out I am nearly half Native American, ask would you prefer Native American or Indian? I told her I am half Irish, 1/4 Apache (the other 1/4 is blackfoot), just call me Angry. I was joking of course and she laughed. I think people make to big a deal of things. There is a difference in referring to someone by a world that is supposed to be offensive, ie the N word or in my case Redskin, and using Indian or Black. I had a great friend one time that used to ask me "White People" questions. It always made me laugh. BTW I when I type I use Native American, not because in is PC but so people don't get confused and think I am from India. :)

Uh... I thought hearing impaired WAS the politically correct phrase...

I found this definition on Answers.com

Politically correct - adj. (Abbr. PC): 1. Of, relating to, or supporting broad social, political, and educational change, especially to redress historical injustices in matters such as race, class, gender, and sexual orientation.
2. Being or perceived as being overconcerned with such change, often to the exclusion of other matters.

You ran into an idiot like Abby H said. Hearing-impaired is a description - the hearing is impaired. People can be stupid and go overboard on this stuff. I do agree with some degree of political correctness, because awareness and respect of certain issues can be aided by it. BUT I also think some people go crazy and over the top with it as well. Don't worry about it. You didn't do anything wrong - that woman did.

Was the person who told you this deaf? If not, then take what she says with a grain of salt.

I look at it like this: As long as what I said wasn't highly offensive, then it can't be wrong. Secondly, if the person who tells me its offensive isn't in that "group" then they don't actually know they can only speculate from things they've heard.

I say if you and your son are comfortable with it then don't worry about it. (I know your son isn't old enough right yet to know if it makes him uncomfortable...but you know what I mean.)

My honest opinion? It started out as trying to be sensitive and kind to someone dealing with some sort of difficulty, and has morphed into something totally not about the person with the difficulty, but about the person who is (or is not) being politically correct. Now, everyone (that is really into it and bashes someone who isn't) that is heavy into PC does it as a form of moral superiority.

At least that's my opinion. For what it's worth.

No matter how hard you try, there will always be one person who doesn't like what you say...

Really, I think it is a personal thing ... I have friends who are black and they do not like the term African-American because they are not from Africa. I also have friends who are African-American (have residency in both countries) that are offended that the lable goes to "black Americans" really, I think the whole thing is crazy and off the wall!

Poltical correctness is basically saying certain things in a more sensitive or positive way. For example, instead of referring to somebody as "disabled," which we are all used to saying, it is better (and more encouraging) to saying that they are "differently-abled." To somebody who is not disabled, this can seem pretty lame and nit-picking but for the person who does have a disability, hearing about them referred to as being "disabled" all the time can be really discouraging and bad for the moral.

I'm okay with political correctness. I'm not always poltically correct because I can be pretty ignorant sometimes. But I'm learning and I do want to be kind and compassionate to my fellow human beings so I am okay rephrasing things so that they are supportive and encouraging to others. It costs me nothing to extend that kind of courtesy. That being said . . .

I don't have a son with a hearing impairment so I didn't realize that it was better to say "hearing impairment" instead of "hard of hearing". They both pretty much mean the same thing so I'm not sure if one is more insensitive than the other. Would like to see how some of the other moms respond to this one.

i feel ya'...people are WAY too sensitive these days & more caught up on actual freakin' verbage than what you mean! so stupid! obviously there's some things that are MAJOR taboo, but hearing impaired, mentally retarded, etc. (I know those aren't the same thing, just an example). I still say mentally retarded when dealing w/that population (as I do for my job as a caseworker for elderly & ppl w/disabilities) and I can't stand it when people get offended over my exact words when they know what the hell i mean. what do you want me to say...this person has an IQ under 70? I mean, really, we all know what mental retardation is and we all know hearing impaired implies some type of hearing impairment! i'm w/ya'! SO ANNOYING! makes me afraid to say anything around certain people, sometimes even on here. i'll probably get blasted for what i said, but i mean it nonetheless. :) (btw, my mental retardation was simply my example, by no means am i connecting MR dx w/hearing impairment, okay??) I was siding w/you! (see if feel i gotta defend myself but I DEF don't want you to be offended by what i said b/c I AGREE!)

I think that person was wrong. While there are words that are not PC (retard, fag, ect) calling someone hearing impaired is hardly one of them!!!

I have to agree with Jennifer and Katie below. If the person who said this wasn't a "person with a hearing impairment" (to use Katie's terminology) than I would just let it roll off my back. In fact, you could apply your own reasoning in your paragraph to your reaction to her - don't let what she said get you all worked up as she probably also didn't mean to offend you, she probably thought she was being helpful. While I do not have a son with a hearing impairment, I think if I did I would call it exactly that - especially in your case where you don't know the ultimate outcome.

Good luck to you & your son!!

I betcha the person that told you were politically incorrect isn't from Texas!!
Ya' know girl, Texans just tell ya' like it is and really don't give a @#%! if it's "proper" or not. (It's called being honest!)
Personally, I have never worried about political correctness mainly b/c I hate lying and secondly b/c I see it as the "offended" person's problem. This is not to say that I am rude, I do have some tact! LOL! I just don't cater to all the whining!
KP