SINGAPORE — Wheelchair-bound, deaf-mute, retarded – these are words that one non-profit organisation has been fighting to remove from public lexicon for the last few years as they perpetuate negative connotations of persons with disabilities.
Terms like “suffers from” and “afflicted with” are similarly targeted by the Disabled People’s Association (DPA) as they imply the person is inherently in need of support and help
To change public discourse on disability so that it becomes more inclusive, the DPA writes in to media outlets, submits letters to forum pages, and appeals to governmental bodies when it sees offensive words used.
“People may think we’re being overly sensitive or pedantic, or political correctness gone mad… But we’re just hoping for it to be a conversation, a dialogue,” said Dr Marissa Lee Medjeral-Mills, DPA’s executive director.
In 2013, the association started a blog compiling views and commentaries from those in the disability community touching on various issues, like education, employment and legislation. A key segment – called What it should have been – consists of a compilation of inappropriate words or term used to describe people with disabilities that have appeared in local media, blogs or publications.
Dr Medjeral-Mills said the language used “reflects the attitude behind the choice of words”, and can be much more powerful than people think.
“People with disabilities rarely have the opportunity to create the terminology or the language that’s used to speak about them…It’s about giving people a say, which hasn’t been the case until quite recently,” she said.
Freelance software developer Chua De Bao, 33, who is deaf, told TODAY over email that contrary to how people rudely assume that he is “mute” or “deaf-mute”, he is just “unable to speak in a clear tone”. He can also hear loud noises such as racing cars, planes flying overhead, thunderstorms, or loud music in a club.
Similarly, deaf student Vanessa Neo, 23, recounted how offended she felt when nurses and doctors wrote “deaf and mute” in very big letters on the white board during her hospital visits.
“It’s not that we can’t talk, we just don’t know how to pronounce the words or we don’t know whether the words we speak are correct, so we’d rather write down on paper or type (via) a phone,” she said.
While Dr Medjeral-Mills acknowledged there has been some change in recent years, and the public is slowly opening up to conversations about disability, she is now concerned that if society has swung too far to the other extreme in finding different euphemisms.
“Now we’re saying differently (abled), unique abilities, with abilities…But rather than moving the marker all the time, why don’t we remove the stigma of the word disability and keep the conversation growing there?” she questioned. Just ask the person with disability how he would prefer to be called.
Some people with disability like 35-year-old graphic designer James Cai are not too bothered over the terms used.
Mr Cai said, some of his friends get upset on his behalf when words like “handicap”, “wheelchair-bound”, “people with special needs” come up.
“I guess I’m just comfortable being myself and that’s why I don’t really bother,” he said.
And when people offer to help just because he is deaf, Mr Chua gets frustrated.
“Although I am a deaf person, I am very positive, independent and determined… to work hard and prove to others I have the ability to do (what most people can do),” he said.
Indeed, Dr Medjeral-Mills said when the public goes to the other extreme of over-emphasising how one has “overcome” his or her disability or challenges, it becomes “inspiration porn”, which can be equally damaging.
“We should celebrate the everyday heroes, if they climb a mountain, or win a gold medal or champion a cause, not celebrate them for being able to get up and go to work every day…
“If anything, we should have the infrastructure in place and policies to help people with disabilities find jobs and stay in place… Not ‘let’s congratulate them for tiny little achievements’ which can be quite damaging,” she explained.
As Mr Chua put it: “Deaf people don’t need people’s pity; they prefer to be treated as a normal person.”
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