What’s In A Name?

I’m shutting down the computer soon to put in a DVD burner and a new 200GB hard drive. These sorts of upgrades always take longer than you anticipate; I’ll be pleasantly surprised if it takes me less than an hour.
I was sitting in a weekly legislative briefing yesterday; we were discussing a current bill at the Minnesota Legislature that would update disability-related language in state statutes. You can still find words and phrases like “handicapped,” “mentally retarded”, and even “idiot” in current Minnesota laws. But as with many seemingly innocuous proposals, unexpected problems have arisen. For example, is a “developmental disability” the same as being “mentally retarded” for purposes of eligibility for various programs. My department has used the terms interchangeably for years, adding to the confusion. Further complicating matters is that many people with physical disabilities don’t seem to fall under the category of people with developmental disabilities. Do we create a separate definition for them? The language definitely needs to be updated, but when archaic terms are embedded in eligibility requirements, it becomes more than doing a simple Find and Replace.