‘Special’ treatment doesn’t help persons with disabilities 

Recently, in a meeting with persons with disabilities, a certain remark made me reflect on how language continues to be used negatively, which in turn impacts on the inclusitivity of persons with disabilities in our societies. The speaker, though well meaning, mentioned that they were working with persons with “special abilities” in reference to persons with disabilities.

'DIVINE BODIES'

Most of us in the room were taken aback. Well, rightfully so, because we did not envision ourselves as persons with special abilities. It was for me a moment to reflect on how we should and can use language that empowers all members of society to know that our differences do not have to make us appear as “special”.

This was not an isolated incident. A colleague from India mentioned how persons with disabilities are referred to as “divine bodies” in their country.

We may have all seen it, in the media probably, or even in public engagements. Where people use names such as differently abled or abled differently, special children, persons with special needs among many other euphemisms that in a way want to erase the disabled identity. I was told of one public event where a leader asked the persons present not to refer to themselves as persons with disabilities!

I have witnessed an organisation that donated wheelchairs to children with disabilities referring to them as special seats!

When a society imagines that by using labels that appear friendly then it will address all barriers that are faced by persons with disabilities, then that becomes a problem for me. Most of this can be traced to how society has historically treated persons with disabilities — as objects of pity, as people that need to be treated or fixed to fit in society, as charitable beings, among others.

What are the repercussions? They include, among many others, seeing persons with disabilities as special, where then we start talking of special schools and special teachers. We do this without realising that by choosing to use these labels, we are actually marginalising persons with disabilities.

UNACCEPTABLE

For example, when we put children with disabilities in special schools, it robs them of opportunities to experience the diversity we have in society, which is also similar because we are robbing children without disabilities a chance to grow in a such a society, where then diversity becomes not only a source of strength, but also offers everyone a chance in life to not only think that all things are the same. This also inculcates within children a sense of accountability towards people who are different from them.

We often see media reports where persons with disabilities are portrayed as being superhuman or superheroes. It is all right to highlight the experiences of persons with disabilities in a society that places so many barriers for them to thrive; but when we only want to present the one-sided view of “how so and so, despite their disability, acquired a degree” for example, we are not only reinforcing that persons with disabilities are actually “not us”, but we are also not highlighting the many barriers they face.

This is totally unacceptable.

Society is evolving. It is paramount that we all evolve with it. We have to acknowledge persons with disabilities as rights holders. We have to start addressing the numerous barriers that persons with disabilities face in our societies. We must move away from treating people as objects of charity and pity. We must move toward full inclusion; where we acknowledge that persons with disabilities, like everyone else, are bringing with them a wealth of contributions and knowledge to make our society what it is.

We must be willing to acknowledge persons with disabilities as part of human diversity and humanity. Not to be treated in any “special” way, but to acknowledge that there are barriers we must address as a society, and to make it inclusive for all.

The writer is a disability rights advocate; [email protected]