Why is this?
The word originated when people, including disabled people, were forced to beg on the streets 'cap in hand'. Thankfully this situation changed, but disabled people were still stuck with this stigma.
I find it very offensive to be called a begger and am wondering if people still mean this or don't know what they are saying?
Anonymous
Favorite Answer
#1 It is an urban legend that the origin of handicapped is cap in hand. It is in gaming as in equalizing the playing field in golf. See: http://www.snopes.com/language/offense/handicap.asp
#2 All Americans do not use handicapped. It is in more common use than it should be since it is offensive to most people with disabilities, but it is losing popularity.
SusieQ
Maybe we are too hung up on words. I've read other places where the phrase 'person with a disability' is preferred because it emphasizes that they are a person first, and disabled second.
They would choose to say 'people with disabilities' rather than lumping us all into the category of 'the handicapped' or 'the disabled'. And a lot of us use the acronyms PWD (person with disability) and AB (able bodied) so that seems to be more widely accepted.
My Father had severe RA(rheumatoid arthritis) since the age of 21, about 1935, and always referred to himself as 'disabled' not handicapped and got very mad when someone called him crippled. I have friends who are wheelchair users who call themselves gimps. I always thought a gimp was someone who walks with a limp. Maybe I'm confused.
Lately I've been seeing the broader term 'special needs' a lot. I'm a wheelchair user and my doctor says I'm 100% disabled. How many words do we need and which ones do we want to use? Yes, I'm definately confused.
Anonymous
They don't know the history of the word, nor do they care. They think it's political correctness.
Yes it is true you handicap a horse and you have a handicap in golf, howeve the term handicap implies an attitude that someone is incapble and needs extra special assitance . It also implies that people who are disabled have all the disabilities not just the ones they may already have.
Using the term physically challenged is nuts, I know some perfectly able -bodied people who are klutzes. They are physcially challenged I am not , I have a visual impairment , a disability.
You no longer use offensive terms for certain ethnic groups or religious groups or racial groups or women, unless you're supremely ignorant, so now it's time you stopped using the term handicapped as it is offensive to MOST people with disabilities.
As for the physically challenged parking that probably would include most drivers.
Call it what it is , disabled parking spaces. If you need to put a large van with an H beside.
Some of you tabs really take the cake.
?
Actually you call someone with a disability a person first who has whatever disability. Handicapped and crippled are offensive terms to most persons with disabilities. Not all persons with disabilities have mental health issues or have intellectual impairments, but this seems to a myth that keeps rearing its ugly head and is usually said out of fear and ignornance. Btw when you asked this question did similar questions with the same idea not come up? Or did you think your question was unique?
ThatGirl
Handicapped, disabled, challenged- all have the ability to offend someone at some time... It's better than what I heard used when I was a kid, such as being called a crazy, a retard, or a cripple. I try to take what people say by how they mean it- if they are attempting to be polite, any of the PC words is okay with me.