Medical What is the correct/appropriate terminology? Offensive organization title?

[GoSpursGo]

1) I volunteered at a camp that works with people with special needs (autism, down's syndrome, deaf, etc) and their website uses the terminology "people with special needs" but I've read online that using that term is offensive. Should I use another term or is "people with special needs" appropriate?

2) Also, because this organization was established more than 50 years ago when the word "******ed" was used for clinical purposes, this word is part of their title; however, they use an acronym as their organization name (ie: HRY: Helping the ******ed Youth, note: not their actual title but is similar) and have addressed the use of the word in their name on their website. Should I still write out the organization's full name on AMCAS despite it having "******ed [Youth]" in it or should I just stick with the acronym? This nonprofit organization is incredible and they work with people with special needs year-round so their message and mission are beautiful but I don't want their organization name to come across offensively.

1) Use whatever terminology you think is appropriate. Nobody is going to check the organization's website, so the terms you use don't have to conform to what they use.

2) This also doesn't matter. If the organization does good work, then regardless of the name it will look good on your app. Again, either use the acronym or the full name.

This is the kind of minutiae that gives pre-meds a bunch of unnecessary angst in putting their app together, but will not matter at all to adcoms. Try not to sweat it.

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[TheBoneDoctah]

You are really overthinking this. First off, YOU did not choose the name. Put what it is and move on.

 

[Goro]

On what planet is the term "people with special needs" offensive??? Really, there are way too many thin-skinned people in the world, don't enable them.

If the camp itself uses the term, that should trump anything else.

 

[lord999]

On what planet is the term "people with special needs" offensive??? Really, there are way too many thin-skinned people in the world, don't enable them.

If the camp itself uses the term, that should trump anything else.

That's actually an issue with EEO with us, so I understand the Op's concern. It's a different time.

To the Op, you need to use the official name of the organization, even if it happens to not be current usage. If there is an abbreviation, use that instead.

For example, one of the previous students received a scholarship from the UNCF in their undergraduate, which the name is historic and dates from a time where the word was the preferred denomym. It is not extremely offensive, but that is not used in normal practice today, so while we all know the full name, they now refer to themselves with the acronym with the same mission.