One of the biggest things I took away from our discussion with Maia Szalavitz was the importance of person-first language, which has been a common theme throughout this semester. Maia discussed how when she first started writing, she used words like substance abuse, and addict, but has come a long since her early days as a writer.

Unfortunately, publications like the New York Times, and locally philly.com have not come as far as others in their language used most significantly in their headlines, and titles. I believe this idea of person-first language to be one of the most important ideas we have discussed throughout the semester and unfortunately will continue to discuss until there is further change.