sasha_feather | "Suffers from"

There is a language convention in journalism that goes, "she suffered from OCD", "he suffers from Parkinson's disease", "sufferers of chronic pain."

I would prefer the more neutral language "has". "She had OCD," "he has Parkinson's", "those who have chronic pain."

What I mislike the most is the implication that having a disease automatically means suffering from them, when in reality many people who have diseases manage them well; and even if they don't, the tone is one of pitying and emotionality rather than neutrality.

Obviously having a disease usually involves some suffering. But John Kabat-Zinn (and others) tell us that suffering does not automatically have to follow from pain. "Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional," as the saying goes. Diseases will always exist. Suffering does not have to be equated with having a disease.

I realize that I am more careful with language than a lot of people are. I realize that some of these battles I'm not going to win. But one thing we can do: I don't say that I suffer from chronic pain. I say that I have it. One simple change.

If you are comfortable editing Wikis, you can go into Wikipedia and make changes like this. Another one is change "confined to a wheelchair" to "uses a wheelchair". (Idea from

badgerbag.