Abstract

This study sets out to examine the attitudes of people with disabilities (PWDs) in Jordan toward translations of disability-related words from English into Arabic. To this end, from the search engine Reverso Context, the researchers have elicited the Arabic translations of seven words namely: blind, deaf, dwarf, handicapped, paralyzed, wheelchair users, and mentally retarded. Then, the researchers distributed a questionnaire to twenty male Jordanian PWDs, asking them to classify the translations of those words based on X-phemisms: dysphemism (impolite), euphemism (polite), and orthophemism (neutral). Subsequently, the participants’ attitudes, as indicated by their classifications, have been discussed in light of the social model. The attitudes of Jordanian PWDs toward Reverso Context’s translations reveal a range of dysphemism (71%), euphemism (26%), and orthophemism (3%). These fluctuations in X-phemisms suggest a deviation from full consistency with the social model.