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The usage note in the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000) states the following with regard to the word empower:
"Although it is a contemporary buzzword, the word empower is not new, having arisen in the mid-17th century with the legalistic meaning 'to invest with authority, authorize/ Shortly thereafter it began to be used with an infinitive in a more general way meaning 'to enable or permit.' Both of these uses survive today but have been overpowered by the word's use in politics and pop psychology. Its modern use originated in the civil rights movement, which sought political empowerment for its followers" (2000, pp. 586-587).
Leaving aside a discussion as to whether empowerment is merely a buzzword (when one is not empowered, it probably does not sound very much like a buzzword), it is worth noting the meaning shift or drift that has occurred with use of the term since its 1 7th century origination and the current linkages between empowerment and issues of control over one's life. However, despite the American Heritage Dictionary's indication that the term's meaning has shifted, it remains less than convincing that the way in which many people use the term is not closer to the original sense of the term. The problem with that meaning with regard to people with disabilities is, of course, that in the end, when one has the power to Invest someone else with authority, one also has the power, presumably, to withhold granting that authority. Power and control remain, fundamentally, with the granter in that circumstance. Similarly, the more current meaning, "to enable or permit," seems to offer two synonyms that, in the end, are not equally effective in solving the "granting authority" problem (American Heritage Dictionary, 2000). That is, the act of "permitting" implies authority on the part of one person to allow another to do something, or not. The meaning of empowerment (or more accurately, empower), "to enable," is, in my mind, closer to the sense of the term as used when associated with social movements, particularly the disability rights movement, which typically uses the term in reference to actions that "enhance the possibilities for people to control their lives" (Rappaport, 1981, p. 15). Enable means "to supply with the...