Stephen Downes

Something I've learned over the years is that most people don't use the right words most of the time. Sometimes their errors betray a misunderstanding of categorical theory (using 'All are not' instead of 'Not all are', for example). Other times it's a misunderstanding of reference (mistaking 'intention' and 'intension'). Or whatever. There are many ways people can be wrong. This includes referencing a community where (as Ann says) "judgment or misleading terminologies were used like 'wheel-chair bound' and 'confined'." The point here, though, is that it is inappropriate to leap to a correction based on an analysis of the language used. "If that analysis was not part of the project itself, a question like that could be read as a critique of the awesome work the project was doing, instead of a way to bring up modelling inclusive language practices." The best advice I can give to activists is "let it go" and to "tend to one's own practices, not others'". And that's why I like this post.