March is Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month. To commemorate this time, the Society is reflecting on the strides taken by the disability rights movement, particularly in regard to the evolution of language.
The term “handicap” was first applied in the early 1900s to describe physical and mental differences, when the new fields of sociology and social work began looking at people in terms of their place in society as a whole.
During the 60s, what had been seen before as individual failings or flaws were recast as disadvantages with respect to larger societal dynamics. The term “handicap” was borrowed from the racetrack, where a horse that was superior in some way could be given a handicap to equalize the chances of the competitors. Initially, parties to such matches agreed to the conditions by placing their hands into a cap and either pulling out or leaving cash stakes there.
In the following decades, old words that cast disabilities as personal flaws, such as "crippled,” “lame,” “imbecile,” and “invalid,” became increasingly offensive. By the 1970s, “handicapped” became the term of choice in the social services field and in legislation.
With the birth of the disability rights movement in the later half of the 20th century, the term “handicapped” was rejected in favor of the term “disabled.” While this may seem like a step backward since disabled means “rendered incapable,” activists were looking for a way to refer to their new campaigns. The term “disabled” highlights access needs verses emphasizing disadvantage.
A “person with a disability” also became commonly used. This phrasing places emphasis on the barrier without defining the person’s identity by that barrier. Today, some people prefer the term “disabled,” while others self-identify as a “person with a disability.”
March is a time for renewed commitment to creating accessible environments and productive opportunities for the 1.5 percent of Canadians (over the age of 14) with cerebral palsy, autism, Asperger syndrome, muscular dystrophy, Down syndrome, and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Individuals with developmental disabilities are valuable members of our communities and deserve full participation in all aspects of life, including education, employment, recreation, and civic engagement. To learn more about developmental disabilities in Canada, check out this infographic produced by Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada.
