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Desire to Label

Our forthcoming Desire to Label campaign shares resources to help people who have the desire to label others find alternative paths forward that do not have the risk of being a form of disability discrimination.

Some reasons people have the desire to label include:

To Feel Control

If someone feels hurt, scared, or overwhelmed during a complicated or stressful time, they may want to label someone else to feel some sense of empowerment or safety from the structure of the label.

To Justify Exclusion

If someone wants to avoid, reject, or exclude another person they may rely on a label to suggest a person who is part of that labeled population deserves some form of reduced contact or social exclusion

To Make Quick Decisions

If a person has limited time or is in a rush, they may use a label to help them make faster decisions about a person or situation

Our campaign will help people by sharing tools that help people RECOGNIZE when they are feeling a pull toward using a label, or that they actually are using a label which may be a euphemism for individuals they feel are aberrant, neurodivergent, or showing signs of a disabling mental impairment.

We will also share resources to REPLACE the labeling with trauma-informed and bias-resistant approaches to impartially engage in conflict resolution and addressing challenging behaviors without profiling or labeling people.

Lastly, we will share resources to help people who have been labeled to REPORT it at DisabilityRadar.com