Greetings, colleagues: This is Maureen Duffy, Editorial Director of VisionAWARE.org, a “self-help for vision loss” web site. I need your thoughts and feedback about a “ people-first language” issue that is troubling me. At first glance, you might think this is an esoteric request, but I assure you that it is not. We are strictly a web-only resource, with no brick-and-mortar presence; thus, Internet search results are very important to us. Here is my dilemma regarding our use of people-first language, which we take great care to use throughout our site: If I Google a phrase such as “resources for people who are blind,” VisionAWARE will appear on page 1 of the search results, which is good. If I Google a phrase such as “resources for the blind,” VisionAWARE is displayed much lower in the search results, which means that potential readers are far less likely to find our information. A keyword suggestion tool I’ve used shows substantially more related results for “the blind” than for “people who are blind.” Googling “the blind” returns roughly 19.6 million search results for that phrase and only 726,000 search results for “people who are blind.” Clearly, people are more likely to think/say/search on something related to/for “the blind” vs. to/for “people who are blind.” Editorially, we take great care to say, “… for people who are blind or have low vision,” but that could be working against readers finding our web site and the excellent information contained within it. Thus my dilemma: Is it better to abandon our insistence on using people-first language and allow more adults in need of vision rehabilitation information find our site, or should we continue to set the example with people-first language and languish undiscovered by many adults in need of our information? (Perhaps the dichotomy is over-dramatized, but you get the idea.) Your comments, ideas, and feedback are most welcome. Thank you in advance, Maureen A. Duffy, CVRT Editorial Director AWARE (Associates for World Action in Rehabilitation & Education) Phone: 914-528-5120 e-mail: maureen.duffy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Are you aware of our web site? _www.visionaware.org_ (http://www.visionaware.org/) "Self-Help for Vision Loss" _www.twitter.com/visionaware_ (http://www.twitter.com/visionaware) **************Dell Days of Deals! June 15-24 - A New Deal Everyday! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1222865043x1201494942/aol ?redir=http:%2F%2Fad.doubleclick.net%2Fclk%3B215692145%3B38015538%3Bh)