Karen; I wonder how you you would consider these aspects of services in disabilities. All start with language use, but focused also on how language shapes the world. It’s psychology but through a Wittgenstein lense, much different than most therapy or behavioral models.
First. the organization I worked for never used the term client, but used the term people (or person) we serve. It was intended to emphasize that we provided people with disability services and we were not there to control.
Second, there was a movement to use people first language. Person with a disability; never a disabled person; emphasizing personhood foremost.
Third was the civil rights movement a mojor force behind the ADA and anti-discrimination.
Lastly, assessment consisted of discovering capabilities and support needs; never emphasizing limitations, but always oriented to possibilities.
Again, it was all just language, but it was designed to change cultures and to consider how language use is often less about the symbols and more about how practices are structured. It’s part of what I’ve termed ontological responsibility or responsibility to who we are at our core.
Depending on whether one believes that reality is objectively given or subjectively / collectively constituted, the understanding of responsibility will differ. This, in turn, has a serious impact on how individuals and collectives can or should use IS (Information Systems). (Stahl, 2007)