Adults With Developmental Disabilities

We actually asked the consumers in our program what label they prefer - Consumer or Client. We discussed what labels are and why we have them. It's a convenience thing so we all know who we are talking about.

For example, I am an "employee" of the agency I work for. I am also a "staff member." And just to make it confusing, I am also the "Site Director." Three labels for one person in one position. The many prestigious labels help offset the miserable pay.

The consumers thought about it and voted to label themselves "Clients." It was a unanimous vote. That's cool. Consumer was always a little confusing to me anyway. Consumer is sort of a global label whereas Client is a person receiving services from our particular business. Interestingly enough, even though they elected to change their label, every client was still the same person the next day.