Dear Rajani: I completely agree with you. But I feel blindness isn't our limitation any more; it's our identity. So, I feel we must celebrate our identity and shouldn't shy away from it and if we do that, it won't hurt us when someone refers to us as blind. An example would be this: Australia is made of ex-convicts transported to the continent from Britain, but they are not bothered about it any more. In fact, they celebrate their Australian'ness and aren't cowed down by their history any more. It's the same with us.
Again, whoever is using the nicest of euphemisms for blindness, what's the guarantee that he/she would use the same in our absence? So, the best way is to change our attitude. We must make others understand that what appears as a limitation is something that offers a certain uniqueness to our identity and makes us special in mainstream environment. If this is true, then shouldn't we feel confident about what we are? Subramani -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Rajani G Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2006 8:51 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AI] Use disability not handicap *********************** No virus was detected in the attachment no filename Your mail has been scanned by InterScan MSS. *********************** Hi, Sorry, if I have taken your valuable time for this subject. my only intention was that if we have more refined words, why not use them if it describews our condition in a polite way and not hurt our feelings. if we have achieved something inspite of our limitation, why we should cling on to the limitation. why not break out of it and say that the disability is of mind and not any physical part. I personally feel better we be polite amongst ourselves, so that we can expect that from general public. Of course, it is my opinion and not necessary that it should be taken. Regards, Rajani On 11/14/06, shobhan singh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > No doubt, we are blind and using the word "blind" do not produce any > negative effect. But we should not use the word: "handicap" while defining > any of the disability whether it is visual or physical. > Because the word "handicap" derives from the phrase "cap in hand" referring > to a beggar, and is despised by most people with disabilities. > Regards > > Shobhan Singh > Programme: PHD (Modern Indian History) > Room # 019 > Brahmaputra Hostel > Jawaharlal Nehru University > Contact # 91-09313468732 > SKYPE ID: shobhan_foucault > To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with > the subject unsubscribe. > > To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please > visit the list home page at > http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.i n > To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.i n To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
