We are not differently abled!

PLEASE DON’T GIVE US LABELS. We have certain problems, and our problem has been described by the WHO as disability. This term is recognized all over the world and by all people with disability. What this word means is that because of the way our body works or because what we do or the way we do it has changed, we face various barriers in our lives.

These barriers are caused mainly by the attitudes of society – they see only that we cannot do certain things. So when we do those things they are surprised. And because of this recently we have been given the label first "differently abled" and now "otherwise abled". These terms have been made up by individuals who do not have disabilities. I have not yet come across any person with disability who uses them. What will be next?

But please remember that we are all people first. We are human beings first. See us like this – we are individuals like you, we have feelings and needs like you. And we have problems like you. The difference is in the type of problem and how severe it is. If our society accepted us as people like them, we could together overcome the barriers that we face. We could work together to make our environment suitable for us, to use the abilities that we have as people and to do what others can do – go to the same schools, do the same jobs and so on.

Because many in our society do not see us as human beings, they are surprised when we do the things that they do. They are surprised and clap their hands because we do not do them the same way that they do them. But we are able to do them because we have intelligence and can use the common sense that all of us have. As human beings we can work out solutions to our problems. So when we have no hands we learn to use our feet, and we can do this not because we are differently abled, but because we have the same abilities all human beings have--Intelligence, innovation, motivation and creativity.

So please see us in the way that disability is now defined – that we do have disability, and that we are disabled people because our society has disabled us. Having disability is not our fault, we are not ashamed of it. I think it is because society feels guilty about us that they like to give us labels to tell us how clever we are.

This kind of labelling is paternalistic and arrogant. I hope the media will help us to have this unjust labelling removed. I am not differently abled because I can look after myself although I use a wheelchair. I am an individual who cannot get a job because I use a wheelchair. I am a person who has disability.

By a Disabled Person