How words used by law shaped lives for centuries.
A legal word can become a life sentence.
Legal labels did not only describe people. They affected property, freedom, decision making and status.
Once a person was placed into a category, the category could shape how every institution treated them.
Awareverse is alert to this in modern systems too. Labels should help unlock support, not become cages.
When looking at legal labels, ask: who had power, who was being labelled, and what would have changed if the human being had been seen first?