LET’S PUT THE PERSON FIRST, NOT THE DISABILITY!
Do the words used to describe you have an impact on your life? You bet! Contrary to the age-old “sticks and stones” lesson we learned as children, words do matter! For too long, people who happen to have conditions we call “disabilities” have been subjected to devaluation, marginalization, prejudice, and more. And the first way to devalue someone is through language, by using words or labels to identify a person/group as “less-than,” as “the others—not like us,” and so forth. Once a...
read moredisAbility Terminology
Terms used in disAbilities and their dhivehi version which I feel is appropriate in terms of usage. Please note that this is not the official terminologies but I have extensively discussed these with many friends in this field.
read moreTalking About disAbility/People First Language
In today’s society we find that how people talk about disability is widely varied. Many people wonder what is appropriate and what is not when talking about disability. It is important that as parents we use people first language and help our children to understand and adapt people first language. What is people first language? People first language is focusing on the person first and the disability last. The following are some guidelines for talking about disability and developing people first language: Do not refer to a...
read moreDefinitions of Disability in the Government
The definition of disability for the National Policy on Disability adopts the social model of disability. The social model acknowledges that the environment and social barriers are often more responsible for exclusion from enjoying equality than psychological, mental or behavioral differences. In this spirit and with a desire to promote equality and allow each citizen of Maldives to exercise their human rights we define disability thus:
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