Dehumanization
Station 10 of 27 on the Put-downs that wear you down line. Code W 10
Safety first
Dehumanizing language can come with loss of choices, contact, money, housing or safety, especially where you depend on the people using it. Watch for being moved, restricted or medicated without explanation, or for threats tied to a label.
Contact an independent advocate, ombudsman or legal aid service early, and tell someone outside the setting where you are.
What is Dehumanization?
A person is talked about or handled as a case, a number or a type, and no one seems to ask what they think.
It can sound like
- Bed fourteen needs moving. (said about a patient who is listening)
- She’s a difficult case. Don’t bother asking what she wants.
- We’ll tell him what’s been decided when it’s been decided.
Signs it might be this
- You are referred to by a label, number or room, including in front of you.
- Decisions are made about you without asking you, or told to you after the fact.
- Your questions are answered by speaking to the person with you instead of to you.
- Others in the same setting are addressed by name and consulted, while you are not.
- Your complaints are treated as symptoms of your category.
Signs it is probably something else
- Everyone in the setting gets the same formal process, and each person is still addressed by name.
- You are asked for your view before decisions, even in a hurry.
- Labels are used between professionals only, with explanations offered to you in ordinary words.
- The staff member is brusque with everyone, and apologized when you pointed it out.
- Procedures you find cold are required by law or policy, and someone is willing to explain them.
- The impersonal language is used for everyone and paired with courtesy.
- You are consulted before decisions and told what they mean.
- A staff member responds to being corrected about your name or role.
Questions to ask yourself
- Am I spoken to or spoken about when decisions are made?
- Is the label used in front of me, and would it be used for someone they respect?
- Is everyone in this setting handled this way, or is it me?
- Is there any step where my account is requested?
- Will anyone explain the process in ordinary words if I ask?
What it is
Dehumanization strips away what makes a person particular: their history, preferences and inner life. They become ‘the difficult one’, ‘bed fourteen’, ‘a case’, ‘those people’.
It can live in spoken language, in paperwork, or in the way a room is run. Plain clinical or procedural language is normal in many jobs.
The pattern is in selective use and in what follows: decisions about the person are made as if they had no input to give. Over time this can make worse treatment seem acceptable to those doing it.
Why it matters
Decisions are made about you in language that leaves no place for your view. There is no point where anyone could plausibly ask for your own account.
It can wear down your sense that your voice counts.
How it shows up
- Language that swaps a name for a label, a number, a room, a diagnosis or a group.
- Treatment that skips ordinary courtesy. Someone talks over a person to someone else, decides in their absence, or moves them without explanation.
- Found in workplaces, healthcare, social services, schools, families and online, wherever someone is processed more than met.
- Often built into systems and forms, so no single speaker may be responsible.
- It can be aimed at one person or at a whole group. The group form can make worse treatment seem more acceptable to the people carrying it out.
What you can do
Read the safety note at the top first. If speaking up could make things worse, skip the wording below and talk to someone you trust or a local support service.
Words you could use
“Please speak to me, not about me. Tell me what is being decided, and let me give my view before it’s final.”
Ask about it gently
Ask to be addressed directly: ‘Please call me by my name, and tell me what is being decided.’ Most people adjust when asked plainly.
Set a clear limit
Ask for the decision to be explained to you directly. Ask for a chance to give your view before it is final: ‘I’d like to be heard before this is decided.’
Step back
Where you can, bring a second person to appointments or meetings, such as a friend or family member. Then you are not alone in the room while you are being discussed.
Get support
Contact a patient advocate, ombudsman (an independent complaints officer), tenant or client rights group, or union, depending on the setting. They deal with exactly this and can speak to the system on your behalf.
At work, school or with services
Ask that your file be written with facts rather than labels, and add a dated comment on anything you dispute.
Using this label fairly
- Calling plain bureaucratic or clinical language dehumanizing can turn staff who are just doing their jobs into targets of a charge they cannot answer.
- Using the word for an insult or a rude remark mixes up one unkind moment with a pattern that denies someone’s standing.
How it differs from look-alikes
Objectification sees the person, but only for their use. Dehumanization removes the person and leaves a label.
Shame-as-Governance Disguised as Advice speaks to you, to tell you what is wrong with you. Dehumanization often speaks about you, over your head.
Overcorrection Demands needs you present to perform the repair, while dehumanization carries on without you.