My disability, My pride

‘disabled’ in 2021: an overlook into the relevance of the term in 2020
By Sweet Mylo

Society is encircled with tremendous confusion on what to call these species’.
The confusion no doubt stems or may be propelled by the fact that they themselves don’t really agree on what to be called.
Some say are ‘living with a disability’, others are ‘persons with disability’ and we have those who boldly and proudly call themselves ‘disabled’.

Who is correct though?
Should there be just one who is correct, or the determination may be left at the beholder’s cognisance.
Would it be so wrong for every person with an impairement to decide for themselves what they ought to be called, or would this perpetually convey the indecisiveness of what we should really be called?

The united nations conventions on the rights of persons with disability (UNCRPD) adopted the term ‘disabled’ in acknowledgement that society is what disables an individual by not making things more accessible, or by not being accommodative of the individual’s impairment.
By so defining disability as an interaction, makes clear that disability is not an attribute of the person

‘An impairment on its own would not lead to disability should there be a completely inclusive and comprehensively accessible environment’ (
Al Ju’beh, 2015, p. 13
A ‘disabled person’ may then be defined as someone who is disabled by a world that is not equipped to allow them to participate and flourish.

According to the social model perspective, the terminology ‘person with disability’ uses “person-first language,” in which someone’s disability is treated as a secondary trait, ostensibly with the goal of focusing on the person and using the theory that people shouldn’t be defined or limited by their disabilities.
Many disabled people say the disability is not inside of them, therefore, it is inappropriate to be referred to as a ‘person with a disability’.

A disability is not a living organism.
The terminology ‘living with a disability’ is then subject to severe scrutiny, and just as an individual may not proclaim to be living with objects like a television and fridge in the house, then the same should also apply to a disability.
However, one may ask if the statement of ‘I have a fridge’ is acceptable, would it be proper for an individual to say ‘i have a disability’?

The social stigma associated with disability in the African perspective results in marginalization, often perpetuated with derogatory names used.
Names like xigono and xilema in Xitsonga, sefofu and sekgole in Tswana, isiqhwala or isidalwa in Zulu, which when translated in English meaning unacceptable words like retarded, handicapped, and with connotations to the word ‘disabled’.

Language plays an important role in an individual’s understanding of who they ar.
Schree Groce (1988) pointed out that when different cultures use positive language to describe individuals with disabilities, these individuals with disability ended up intergrating well in to the society.

Could it be that the use of undermining names within the different South African cultures has tremendously contributed in the denial and resistance of the internationally accepted name ‘disabled’, or have the people evolved over the years that a a need to analyse the relevance of the term in 2021 is of extreme urgency.

May polling stations be prepared and the multitude be afforded a democratic right to cast their vote on what to be called.
The ballot paper will have living with disability, person with disability, person with special needs, disabled and differently abled as some of the terminologies to choose from.
The results therefore will tell what we preferred to really be called in the 21st century.