Schmirius
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Deborah Cox
editShe's an African Canadian. Just thought you should know. Blackjays1 (talk) 02:04, 9 March 2009 (UTC)
Using a wheelchair
editHi Schmirius. I see that you have just made a bunch of edits changing "confined to a wheelchair" to "using a wheelchair", remarking that it is the "preferred usage". I have not looked at the context of these changes other than the one article that happened to be on my watch list, List of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles minor characters, but, at first blush, I think that that change weakens the prose. The point is not that the character happens to use a wheelchair, but that he has no choice but to use a wheelchair for mobility and thus, in a way, "he is, like her [Cameron, the cyborg], an amalgamation of biological material and machinery: organic tissues surrounded by a mechanized metal exoskeleton, in contrast to her organic tissues surrounding a mechanized metal endoskeleton." This is not something that would be said about someone who is "using a car", or someone who has limited mobility and is able to walk a certain distance daily, but who "uses a wheelchair" for longer distance.
I think that I understand the reasoning behind this "consciousness raising" language change, that the phrase "confined to a wheelchair" emphasizes the restrictions and implies an overall confinement that, in fact, the use of a wheelchair overcomes. It still strikes me as being imprecise and removing a distinction that is important, at least in the context of this one article. I'm still tying to properly consider this as it is all to easy to complain about prose being weakened in the name of political correctness, and I wondered if you had any advice or could refer me to any material that would aid in better understand the appropriateness of the phrases. -- Thinking of England (talk) 06:23, 1 September 2009 (UTC) I am reminded of my aunt, who after knee replacement surgery was able to walk several hundred step daily, but who used a wheelchair to extend her range. I was pushing her along a trail in Muir Woods when we came upon a fallen branch. She stood up and stepped over the branch as I lifted the wheelchair across. As she was sitting back down, a young boy hiking with his family behind us shouted, "Look mom! A cheater!"
- I found this page from The Access Center which advocates against the phrases "wheelchair-bound" and "confined to a wheelchair", but I still don't see "uses a wheelchair" working as a whole sale replacement. Is there any Wikipedia policy that touches on this? -- Thinking of England (talk) 09:43, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
- Replying to myself again. I wanted some more input on this so I raised the question over at the village pump: WP:VPM#Political correctness or appropriate language? -- Thinking of England (talk) 10:35, 1 September 2009 (UTC)