Call me blind

Vineet Saraiwala

Viraj Bhat works at a software company in Bengaluru. He has lived for 33 years with a developmental disorder that typically impairs cognitive, social and emotional health. He doesn't mind being called autistic. It is acceptable to him, in fact, an affirmation of his real self. What gets his goat is to be identified as an individual with "special needs". "In my opinion," he says, "people should refer to those living with autism and learning disabilities, as autists and learning disabled. When you use ‘special needs', people are trying too hard to recognise our difficulties."

Bhat is part of a growing community of disability advocates, allies and experts opposing the use of politically correct terms. It's time we change our vocabulary, they argue. This is a sea change from a few decades ago when visually challenged was considered a more appropriate term to use for the blind.

Viraj Bhat, who works with a software firm in Bengaluru and is on the autism spectrum, says the term "special needs" can sound disrespectful

Lawrence Carter-Long, Public Affairs Manager at the National Council on Disability, first used #SayTheWord in a December 9, 2015 tweet. The performing artist, activist and media spokesman was born with cerebral palsy. "Don't be afraid of the word #Disabled. Say it. Own it. Organise around it. As long as we're kept separate, we'll 'never' be equal. #SayTheWord," he wrote. While there's no consensus on the origin of the term, special needs, a 2016 study published in Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, states that the launch of the Special Olympics in the 1960s made it mainstream.

That accessibility benefits everybody, not just disabled people, is something Vineet Saraiwala wanted to highlight during his earlier stint as a business executive leading inclusivity projects at Future Group. His job required him to spearhead assignments across accessibility, pricing, home delivery and promotion analytics. "While working on the Big Bazaar project, there was a lot of brainstorming on what's the right terminology to use on the website. We went ahead with special needs at the time, but it was worded in a way that made it applicable to senior citizens, pregnant women and people with temporary disabilities." As somebody living with blindness, Saraiwala doesn't feel disability is a dirty word. "People with visual disabilities are completely fine with being called blind. In my experience, ‘special needs' gets used a lot more in the neuro-diverse community, usually by parents of such kids." According to Saraiwala, it's important to distinguish between condition and disease. "The word condition is used in the sense of ‘state'. On the other hand, the word disease is used in the sense of ‘sickness'. For instance, my blindness is my condition. It doesn't define me, it is just one part of me. It's the same with somebody confined to the wheelchair - it is a permanent condition, not a disease that spreads."

Varun Sawant is a professional chef living with autism. His mother Darshana says her son has worked with five star hotels where his colleagues thought he was safe to work around. "It doesn't matter what you call them. What does is how you accept them." Sawant is currently running Bake and Flake, a home-bakery from where he delivers jaggery-based cookies made with jowar, ragi, buckwheat and oats. Pic/Sameer Markande

In 2020, Varun Sawant, 21, became the first autistic person in Asia to complete a full marathon. He is also the first Indian chef to practice in the kitchen, while living with autism. Sawant, who has interned with ITC Grand Maratha and Grand Hyatt's bakery department, is currently running his homegrown venture, Bake and Flake, that offers healthy (jaggery-based) cookies made with jowar, ragi, buckwheat and oats. His mother, Darshana, is a special educator. "I don't think the term matters to them. What does is how people treat and interact with them. My son has interned with five-star hotels and they accepted him with his shortcomings. At ITC Maratha, he had a trial period of over a month. The chefs who were working there, some with over 20 years experience, said this is the first time they had an autistic chef in the kitchen. They thought he was safe [to work around], so it's all about how the world accepts him."

Darshana believes the awareness to say it like it is, has come from growing awareness campaigns by non-profits and those within the community. As a parent, however, she admits to being more sensitive when it comes to terminology. "Instead of people saying, ‘accha, yeh pagal hai', I rather have them say special needs."
Shishir Bhatnagar, a nautical consultant and wheelchair user, shares that as per the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, the official term to use is Persons with Disabilities (PwD). "All government agencies should follow this, but if you notice the official Twitter handle of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, they continue to use the term deaf and dumb. At least, official correspondence should follow the nomenclature."

Shishir Bhatnagar, a nautical consultant and wheelchair user, says it's ironic that the disabled, referred to a "divyang" (divine) in Hindi, finds it tough to negotiate divine locations since most religious institutions in India are not easily accessible to his frat

Those opposing special terms for the disabled get particularly riled up when they hear the Hindi term used for the disabled, divyang, which literally translates to somebody divine. According to Bhatnagar, it's ironic that the symbolic celestial status offer little equity in the house of God, with most temples, churches and mosques in India, being inaccessible to them. "At the Golden Temple in Amritsar, wheelchairs are not allowed inside the sanctum, although the rest of the area is accessible to us. They have volunteers to pick you up and take you inside. But, that's degrading."

In 2015, the Indian government launched the Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan) to make public spaces more accessible to the physically disabled. The idea was to eliminate obstacles and barriers to indoor and outdoor facilities, including schools, medical centres, workplaces, footpaths and curb cuts. "It was no more than a flop election campaign, drafted with good intentions but one that never managed to reach fruition."

Pradeep More is the co-founder and director of Pahal Foundation, and General Secretary of their State Level Association of the Deaf. With the help of his wife Taslim, a sign interpreter, he tells this writer that the problem is that decisions concerning the disabled are taken without consulting the community. "Make services more accessible so that someone with a disability can move through the world equitably; consult specialist deaf organisations for advice on access, and provide more sign interpreters in colleges and schools. This will make life better for us."

1960
Decade in which the term special needs could have gone mainstream after the launch of the Special Olympics