Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 646, War-Related Disabilities.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode 646.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
You can download a learning guide there that will help you improve your English even faster than not downloading a learning guide.
This episode is called War-Related Disabilities.
Abilities are things that you are able or can do.
Disabilities are things that you cannot do.
War-related disabilities are usually injuries, something that happens to your body, that damages it, that hurts it somehow.
Let's get started.
How do you like your new job at the Veterans Hospital?
I like it a lot.
It's really rewarding.
What do you do there exactly?
My job is to help returning vets who have been physically injured adjust to living with their medical disabilities.
You mean people who have lost limbs?
Yes, some of the vets have had one or more limbs amputated, but that's only one of the many disabilities we see at the hospital.
For instance, It sounds like a very hard job.
I've seen people who are paralyzed, paraplegics and quadriplegics, overcome their disabilities and lead full and happy lives.
With the help of wheelchairs, prosthetic limbs, seeing eye dogs and modified cars, a lot of people with disabilities can learn to be independent.
That's part of my job.
Then you're just the person I need to help my brother.
Is he disabled?
Yes, he has a serious case of paralysis caused by extreme laziness.
Is there any help for him?
Elena begins our dialogue by asking Wieland...
How do you like your new job at the Veterans Hospital?
A veteran.
V-E-T-E-R-A-N is a person who has been in the military, usually during a war.
A person who is no longer in the military, in the Army or the Navy, for example.
But they used to be.
They were in military service.
My father was a veteran.
He was in the U.S.
Army during World War II.
A veteran can also be a more general term to refer to someone who has been through some difficult experience or in an organization that had problems, and this person has a lot of experience.
Or it can just mean someone who's very experienced in what they do.
She's a veteran news reporter, meaning she has a lot of experience.
She's been doing it for many years.
Here, however, veteran means someone who is in the military.
The US government has special hospitals for veterans, especially those who are coming back from war, who are injured, who perhaps have lost their legs or one of their arms.
We call these veterans hospitals.
There's one here in Los Angeles.
There's one in almost every big city in the United States.
And they are operated by the U.S. government.
Wieland says, I like it a lot.
I like my job.
It's really rewarding.
Something that is rewarding is something that gives you a sense of satisfaction that makes you feel this is worthwhile.
Certainly for me, recording these podcasts is very rewarding.
Elena says, what do you do there exactly?
What kind of work do you do at the hospital?
Vilan says my job is to help returning vets who have been physically injured adjust to living with their medical disabilities.
Lots of terms there.
Let's start with returning vet.
A returning vet is a returning veteran.
Vet is short for veteran.
This is a person who is coming back from a war zone or from a place where they were stationed, where they were working.
They're coming back to the United States.
They're returning.
And hence, therefore, we have the term returning vets.
Vet, V-E-T, actually has a couple of different meanings in English.
Take a look at our learning guide for some more explanations.
These returning vets have been physically injured.
Physically refers to your body, things that you can feel and see.
Injured is the same as hurt or broken.
If you injured your foot, it hurts.
You did something to it that has damaged it somehow.
To adjust means to adapt to something. to go from one situation to another situation, to adjust to.
Medical refers to medicine, things that are used to help you get better.
A disability is something that you cannot do.
Here it means some typically part of your body that isn't working the way it should.
Or perhaps you've lost a leg or you've lost a finger.
You have a medical disability.
Why do we say medical disability since we are talking about the body?
Well, it's possible to have other disabilities.
In school.
Sometimes we talk about learning disabilities, things that are related to the way you learn, things that you perhaps have difficulty with.
Here it refers to injuries, physical injuries to the body.
Veland says my job is to help returning vets who have been physically injured adjust to living with their medical disabilities.
Elena says, you mean people who have lost limbs?
A limb?
L-I-M-B, the B is silent, we don't pronounce it, is either an arm or a leg.
You have four limbs, two arms and two legs.
Wieland says, yes, some of the vets, some of the veterans, have had one or more limbs amputated.
To amputate, A-M-P-U-T-A-T-E, means to remove either an arm or a leg or possibly a finger or toe.
To physically remove it from your body, we would say to remove it surgically.
You get have a special doctor called a surgeon who is responsible for things like amputations, which is the noun.
So, yes, some of the vets have had limbs amputated.
We call someone who has a limb amputated an amputee.
That's a person who has had a limb amputated.
Wieland says, but that's only one of the many disabilities we see at the hospital.
For instance, this week I'm working with a vet who suffered serious hearing loss and a woman who has developed a visual impairment.
Hearing loss is when you are unable to hear very well.
There could be a lot of causes for that.
Visual refers to your eyes, what you can see.
An impairment is something similar to a disability.
It's something that you cannot do or cannot do very well.
A visual impairment is when you can't see very well.
Elena says it sounds like a very hard job, a very difficult job.
Wieland says it can be. but it's also inspiring sometimes.
Inspiring means motivating, making you believe that anything is possible, making you want to try harder.
Wieland says that he's seen people who are paralyzed...
Paraplegics and quadriplegics overcome their disabilities and lead full and happy lives.
To be paralyzed means to be unable to move some part of your body, usually because there's some medical problem.
We also have an expression to be paralyzed with fear, which meaning you're so afraid that you can't move.
But normally, paralyzed is a medical condition, a disability.
There are two common types of paralyzed conditions.
One of them is to have No ability to use your legs.
From your waist down, you can't move your body.
We call someone who has that condition a paraplegic.
P-A-R-A-P-L-E-G-I-C.
That's from the waist down, the bottom half of your body.
If you can't move the top or the bottom half of your body, we would call you a quadriplegic.
This is someone paralyzed, we would say, from the neck down, meaning anything below their neck.
You can move your head perhaps, but not anything else.
Unfortunately, that happens sometimes when people have serious injuries.
It could be in war.
It could be even in a car accident.
Wieland says that the patients, the people at the hospital, often overcome their disabilities.
They are able to go beyond them. and lead or have full and happy lives.
With the help of wheelchairs, prosthetic limbs, seeing eye dogs and modified cars, a lot of people with disabilities can learn to be independent.
A wheelchair, one word is a special chair that has wheels on it, so that a person who cannot walk can be moved or move him or herself.
Prosthetic limbs are man-made or artificial limbs, a leg or an arm for people who have lost their leg or arm.
Seen-eye dogs are specially trained dogs that help blind people, people who cannot see in their daily activities.
They help them walk, move from one place to another.
Finally, a modified car is a car that has been changed.
We might also say altered. so that someone who has a disability can use it.
Elena says, then you're just the person I need to help my brother.
Vilen says, is he disabled?
Elena says, yes.
He has a serious case of paralysis caused by extreme laziness.
Is there any help for him?
Remember we talked about being paralyzed with fear.
Well, Elena says that her brother is paralyzed because he's extremely lazy.
He won't get up and move.
Of course, she's making a joke here.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
How do you like your new job at the Veterans Hospital?
I like it a lot.
It's really rewarding.
What do you do there exactly?
My job is to help returning vets who have been physically injured adjust to living with their medical disabilities.
You mean people who have lost limbs?
Yes, some of the vets have had one or more limbs amputated, but that's only one of the many disabilities we see at the hospital.
For instance, this week I'm working with a vet who suffered serious hearing loss and a woman who has developed a visual impairment.
It sounds like a very hard job.
It can be, but it's also inspiring sometimes.
I've seen people who are paralyzed, paraplegics and quadriplegics, overcome their disabilities and lead full and happy lives.
With the help of wheelchairs, prosthetic limbs, seeing-eye dogs and modified cars, a lot of people with disabilities can learn to be independent.
That's part of my job.
Then you're just the person I need to help my brother.
Is he disabled?
Yes, he has a serious case of paralysis caused by extreme laziness.
Is there any help for him?
We hope you found listening to this script rewarding.
Thank you, Dr. Lucy Say, for writing it.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2010 by the Center for Educational Development.
