Affirmative Action

In today's era of affirmative action and politically correct speaking, it is no longer acceptable to say "handicapped" or "disabled". "Challenged" is now the acceptable term.

Such was the case when a morning radio personality (somewhere around Maryland) recently reported a traffic jam caused by a "mechanically challenged" vehicle.

The unfortunate thing about using the word "challenged" when referring to a disabled person is, it won't change the nature of their disability, nor is it likely to change peoples' feelings toward them. Instead, as has happened with so many other words, "challenged" will take on the new meaning. Twenty years from now, when we say that "a skier was challenged by an expert slope," we will probably mean that he broke his leg.