WHENEVER I happen to speak of disability with a few notable people, some of them would cringe away from the term ‘disability’.  Someone recently asked me: “Why use that word?  How about the word impairment? Surely,” she pressed on, “the word impairment is a much better  term.”

I actually agreed with her. No one likes to be called disabled. It reeks of all the old stereotypes, like handicapped; limiting, narrow stereotypes about people with a different condition. It conjures up images of a person who is broken, a societal outcast. No one wants a label like that!

In truth, whatever terms are being used is the right of the disabled themselves to clearly define which is most appropriate, and which ones are not. The disabled community in Guyana must decide how they want to the identified, and present these to the rest of the society as a standard. It should not allow the rest of the community, even the media, to outline or define its social mandate.  Disability rights movements and scholars on disability are the main players in helping that community have a culture and identity. When there is an ongoing struggle for basic human rights, a key element is in what people call themselves, according to Isaacson-Kailes, a consultant on disability in the United States. She went on to say  that disability culture is the common thread with language as the key to acknowledging this culture.
British disability studies scholar, Marian Corker (1998, p. 225) explained: “… the process of defining is bound up in ‘matters of identity’, and therefore with action, political and otherwise, which is taken.”

But the disabled community in Guyana has to be wise as to which terms it chooses to cast out.  It was only in the 1990s that this  community in the United States and Britain was  successful in leaving behind the word handicapped in favour of the better (ironic to some ) term  disabled.  I couldn’t understand why that term, not until I was forced to seek out some habilitation for my own daughter, who was born with a disability. Turned out that in order to get any medical help, the individual has to be labeled, disabled . The government and health system are the key players in providing treatment and rehabilitative services, and will need to be precise in prescribing in order to treat. Indeed, when we are dealing with a multitude of conditions, the need will arise to clearly distinguish between who is disabled and who is not. As an affected individual, it will serve the medical aspect of the condition best if the person would allow the medical system to impose the term, as they will, in order to receive appropriate treatment. To make it plain, if you are not going to accept a condition of disability, then you would not be deemed as having a problem and will not receive treatment for the condition. I therefore vote that the term disability should remain as the guiding force to help identify and treat the many people who are affected by any condition that impairs their physical functions.

This is not to say that in other social aspects of life, that an individual needs to look at themselves this way.  I met this woman once who was affected by vertigo. Something was wrong with the semicircular canals in her ears. Most days, she would feel dizzy and stagger on her feet as she went about her tasks. These canals control our balance, and she kept losing hers. The disability label helped her get a disabled parking spot (sorry, I am writing from the US); they helped her get government assistance and care, but she did not let this stop her from attending college and pursuing a career. Nor should any disability stop anyone else from pursuing their best life.

In the fledgling struggle to advance a better life for my countrymen, women and children who are considered disabled, it should be clear that how the disabled community presents itself to the rest of the society is critical to ensuring they get the best out of the system.  This imagery will be advanced through words and language. A lexicon of appropriate terminology needs to be crafted when dealing with political, social and cultural issues.

In actuality, several different terminologies will have to be used, depending on which situation is being subscribed to at the time.

SOME MODELS OF DISABILITY

In an Economic Model of disability, the person’s condition is tied to their ability to work and employability. We have seen this type of model applied to professionals who get sick on the job and are allowed to leave with full compensation. A Sociopolitical Model of disability is one which views disability as a civil rights issue and strives for equal access regardless of their condition. They are viewed as  an oppressed  minority faced with cognitive and sensory obstacles. We see the Sociopolitical Model at play when the disabled movement rallies and advocates for better living conditions from government. This model shapes future policy and research. A Functional Limitation Model deals with how the education system designs its curriculum to meet the needs of the disabled, while the Medical Model shapes how society views the condition. In the Medical model, the person is blameless for the condition and is under the care of the medical system.
(Definititon of models taken from the book Introduction to Audiologic and Rehabilitation (5th ed. Ronald Schow and Michael  Nerbone).