Friends, we too often meet in a variety of articles, postings, and even in the speeches of the forum speakers the use of incorrect social terms.
Frankly, this is very embarrassing for us and our employees, since one of our values is respect for human dignity!
And respect for human dignity is about barrier-freeness: in behaviour and surely in communications.
As barrier-freeness ambassadors, we want more people connected to the social sphere to communicate correctly! Especially when it comes to other personalities.
Today, we will analyse the category ‘a person with a disability’
In most cases, incorrect statements are used because of ignorance. Why you should not say so, what terms you need to use, and how to learn the right ones. It is these questions that we will try to answer today.
People with disabilities.
We have already written about the fact that in most terms, we put the word ‘person’ in the first place. Because no matter what disorders a person has, first of all they are a person!
If we want to detail information about a person’s form of disability, then we can add the word ‘disorder’.
Examples: a person with musculoskeletal disorders, a person with mental/physical/sensory/intellectual disabilities. A person with impaired colour/ hearing/vision perception, etc.
Disability and inferiority are regarded as offensive statements against people with
disabilities. Most of these people live a normal FULL life which is not limited by any factors and does not differ from the lifestyle of other ordinary people. Using this terminology, we ourselves stigmatise people with disabilities and put a label on them. People with disabilities can live a wonderful life, become athletes, start families, study, and work. They are able to do this, so we cannot say ‘disabled’ in relation to them.
A disabled person is a stigmatisation of a person as well as the above terms.Whatever disorders a person has, they are first and foremost a person with the same rights as others.At the same time, having a disability, a person continues to have other social roles that are much more important.Disability is only one of the signs of a person, far from being the highest priority.
A person with disabilities is each of us.
Someone can not run a marathon, someone can not hold their breath for 1 hour, someone can not eat 1 kilogram of ice cream at a time, someone can not read 300 words per minute aloud, and someone can not lift a load weighing 100 kilograms. You can give many examples, but the most important thing to remember is that each has limited capabilities. This does not apply only to people with disabilities, so it cannot be a term that characterises them.
People with disabilities are each of us, too.Everyone has their own list and their own priority in the needs that they should satisfy.Someone needs to drink at least 2 litres of water a day, someone needs to follow a special diet due to food allergies, someone needs to take special vitamins, someone needs to sleep at least 8 hours, and someone needs only 6 hours of sleep.Everyone has their own needs, but each of us needs care, so we must try to make each person feel comfortable.
Friends, let’s respect each other and not create artificial barriers in our language!
*The publication was created on the basis of the Barrier-Free Handbook and with the help of the project manager of our Community for Family programme, social care teacher Khrystyna Kupcheva