After passage of legislation…
THE use of language that may have derogatory meanings is a primary concern following the passage of the Persons with Disabilities Bill last week Thursday.
Some stakeholders in the disability movement contend it must be seen as everyone’s business and as such, usages could be used to reinforce demeaning or inaccurate stereotypes and prejudices.
Administrator of the National Commission on Disability (NCD), Ms. Beverly Pile explained that using appropriate terms is a way to recognise the person first, before looking at the physical condition.
“Right now, we want to enforce what is current, for example, the terms in the United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which refers to persons with disabilities rather than disabled person,” she said.
Pile said the right words also influence the perception that people have of individuals with disabilities.
Among the preferred terms, agreed on by NCD and the Disability Focal Point of the Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO), are as follows:

TERMS COMMONLY USED
PREFERRED TERM
Handicapped person
Person with disability
The disabled, the crippled, the handicapped, a cripple or invalid person
Person living with disability
Normal (when used as the opposite of disabled) or whole
Non-disabled person or non-disabled
Handicapped accessible
Accessible by people with disabilities
Birth defect
Disabled since birth or born with …(name of disability)
The blind or visually impaired (as a collective noun) or blind person
Persons who are visually impaired or blind, persons with visual impairment
Confined, bound, restricted to or dependent on a wheelchair
Wheelchair user or person who used a wheelchair
Midget or dwarf
Person or small stature or short-statured person
Lame
Person who is mobility-impaired or person with mobility impairment
Epileptic, fits
Person who has epilepsy or seizures
Dead and dumb, deaf mute
Deaf person, hearing impaired, person with hearing loss

Crazy, mental patient, emotionally depressed, mental, insane, mad, deranged, deviant or mentally ill
Person who has an emotional disability, person with a mental illness, person with a psychiatric disability
Defective or maimed
Impaired or injured
Person who has overcome his disability, person who is courageous in spite of disability
Person who is successful or productive
Crippled by, afflicted with, suffering from, victim of or deformed
Person who has, or person with…(name of disability), person living with (health condition such as HIV/AIDS) Pile maintained that positive attitudes can be shaped by what is said.
The recently passed legislation paves the way for the establishment of the National Commission on Disabilities and the implementation of several measures to improve the lives of the differently-able.
It was also hailed for its transformational nature and in keeping with the United Nations Convention.