Labels are for clothes

At a meeting today I was discussing some of my recent blog posts and Edmund McKay my Head of Care said “labels are for clothes”. I looked at him and he repeated the statement and then asked me how I would like be known, was it Stevie the father, Stevie the husband, Stevie the business man, Stevie the NLP practitioner or Stevie with the big bald head. He went on to say that the same way of describing people in positive and negative ways applies to people with disabilities.

We all belong to groups he said, sometimes by choice (father, husband, and entrepreneur etc. ) and sometimes by chance (bald). Some of these groups shape and define us more than others, but it isn’t always us who get the chance to decide which groups others choose to judge us by, this in particular applies to people with disabilities and especially when we use negative descriptions and then expect them to live up to them.

Human nature being what it is makes us try fit ourselves and others somewhere and interpret behaviours accordingly.He tells me that the same applies to Stephen and to Mark. At that moment he shifted me and from now on it’s not about Down’s Syndrome or Asperger’s syndrome or Autism or any of the other labels we put on people, but more about Mark the potential boxer, Mark with his great sense of humour, Steven the budding accountant and Stephen the recruit.

5 Comments

Posted by Andrew Craig on 06 December 2010

Excellent!! it is far too often that people attach the wrong the "labels" as a way of describing something, they don''''t actually understand... to add emphasis to stevie''''s blog here is another by a young adult: Recently at school I''''ve been asked ''''What am I?'''' several times. My reply is ''''Me''''. I think these catagories and labels for people are pointless and cause fights between perfectly decent people. The most commonly used labels are Emo and Chav. The chav bit is straight forward, but when it comes to emo''''s it gets complicated. If you wear skinny jeans and like rock music you''''re labeled an emo and people taunt you for slitting your wrists. Even if you''''re scar free. When you say emo people imediately think of slitting wrists and depression. This is all totally wrong. http://www.geekstinkbreath.net/blogs/read/4837/ A kickass blog which explained the difference between emo and emo. I wish more people understood that difference. Then the labels get ridiculous. Greb? Grebo? What the hell do these mean? Apparently, a greb is a new name for a skater kid. And a grebo is a skater/emo mix. Which idiot thinks up these useless labels? What''''s their point? WHY? Apart from being called an emo by my friends and the other kids I get called other weird things too. Like this one boy asked me if I was a goth because I had a badge which said ''''You can never wear too much black.'''' This same boy asked me if I was ''''One of those punks''''. If I wasn''''t in the middle of tech class I''''d have kicked this guy. But seriously. Why do people need labels? Why do people hate other people just coz their labeled emo? (Or chav for that matter) In the words of Green Day... I take a look around And all the things I''''ve found I call it blind hatred If you''''d stop a while And maybe if you''''d smile You would realize that We''''re all the same It''''s just like our brain When it goes insane We feel the same pain

Posted by katie on 03 December 2010

Good point, well made! Attaching labels has for to long become the normal in our society and it is time that these labels were removed! Being seen as more than the label, or getting out of the pigeon hole that people try to put you in, can be hard going and it is good that more people are realising that "Labels are for clothes" Katie

Posted by Edmund Mckay on 03 December 2010

The social model is a concept which recognises that some individuals have physical or psychological differences which can affect their ability to function in society. However it also suggests that it is society that causes the individual with these physical or psychological differences to be disabled. In other words individuals with impairments are not disabled by their impairments but by the barriers that exist in society which do not take into account their needs. These barriers can be divided into three categories: environmental, economical and cultural. The journey towards this way of thinking has been long and we have come to a fork in the road. There are two paths ahead. One is sign posted ''Segregation'', the other ''Inclusion''. They lead to different places. We must all decide which path to follow.

Posted by Tommy Gray on 03 December 2010

Fantastic Blog, couldn''t not agree more 100%

Posted by Stevie Hunter on 03 December 2010

Wonderful blog. This Is powerful stuff, what a strong message to get across.

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