What do you think about politically correct signs for disabled?

My county recently replaced “Blind Driveway” (that being, a driveway that is not visible from the road) with “Hidden Driveway”.

It made me chuckle for a moment, but it does make sense. I remember being younger and wondering how a blind person got a drivers’ license, and why did all the blind people have to use that driveway?

Politically Correct language is constantly shifting to avoid the negative implications that occur with overuse of the terms. Once upon a time, “moron” and “idiot” were medical terms.

Coming from a family that included a severely disabled child for many years… I can’t help but feel like it is a tiny bit silly. The terms mean very little unless they are said with the intent to be hurtful, which obviously the signs are not. I think that sometimes people are offended by words that remind us of a harsh reality that maybe we are not totally willing to accept. New terms like “handicapable” just make me raise an eyebrow. They seem even worse to me than more traditional words.

Forever, the main road from Nashville to Gallatin, Tn. was named Gallatin Road. this is a fourlane highway. but, recently, the powers that be, decided to change the name of this road to Gallatin Pike. i am like you, what the heck is the difference? someone in an office, somewhere, sits on his duff and comes up with this crape. thanks for the question.

I think it is OK for the people in the group to dictate what the group is called.

It would be appropriate to change the sign’s wording when the sign needed to be replaced, be it due to damage, a state/country mandated change in a sign package, e.g., color, mileage, shape, or if it is causing potential risk. Otherwise, if it only due to making the words PC, it seems like a waste of taxpayers’ money.

“what the heck is the difference? someone in an office, somewhere, sits on his duff and comes up with this crape. thanks for the question.”
That is the most hilarious thing I’ve read here in at least a week. (Ding!) Win.

Personally, I don’t care. I think if the government took the money that would have gone into changing every sign, and dumped it into new hearing aids for underprivileged deaf people, or subsidised sign language classes, or something to that effect… that would be considerably more productive.

Actually, in the case you mentioned, I think it’s a very poor idea to change the sign. It’s meant to quickly get the attention of motorists, which “hearing impaired” is less likely to do,as it must of necessity, be in smaller letters, and it doesn’t have the “awareness” punch that “deaf” does. Kind of like changing Stop signs to say “Zero MPH zone”.
And since when it is unPC to say “deaf”?

I have multiple disabilities and I hate PC references to them.

Any term could be designated politically incorrect and they change daily!! My brother had cerebral palsy and epilepsy. So he was slightly retarded and crippled. These are not derogatory terms to me- just factual. If they are not used in a mean way, how are they mean?

I agree with @marinelife – this isn’t about being PC, it’s about being up to date on what the group in question believes they should be called..haven’t you ever wondered why someone doesn’t want to be called a ‘deaf person’ and wants to be called a ‘hearing-impaired person’? Do you know the reason? (these aren’t rhetorical questions, either..please answer them)

It’s actually kind of weird that they changed the sign from “deaf” to “hearing impaired” and not the other way around. The proper term is “deaf or hard of hearing”. “Hearing impaired” is considered very offensive, as it implies that something is wrong with someone who’s hard of hearing, and that they should be striving to be part of the hearing world.
@Simone_De_Beauvoir As a group, they usually don’t. It’s really weird.

It is an example of what George Orwell called the “euphemism treadmill”. It is a strangely silly phenomenon, but get used to it. It is not going to change any time soon.

Some years ago, I read a satire in which the term “differently abled” was used as an over-the-top example of what political correctness could become. Now I see “differently abled” all the time, used with complete seriousness. It’s patronizing.

Political correctness is a bastardized form of courtesy.

@papayalily : Maybe I got it backwards, no problem. That would make more sense about taking offense to the hard of hearing part.